《Shades of the New World》


 Magic, Characters (includes some info about changed stuff)

    Magic, Characters (includes some info about changed stuff)


    Hey ya''ll! Author here!


    This Auxiry volume is very, veryte, but here it is nheless. It will include a magic system exnation and a character list (with very basic info).


    <strong>Magic system:</strong>


    First of all the magic system. The world is a collection of 13 different ones, where there is a main world where everyone lives, and there''s are 12 different magical worlds that pertain to different concepts. For example, there''s the World of Fire, World of Water, World of Time, etc. and mages can use mana of the main world to exchange for the energies from the various magical worlds.


    In its natural state, mana is in a gaseous, almost vaporous form. People can use it as is to perform magic, but the effects are obviously very negligible. But there are materials, called mana lodestones, which are able to attract, and umte mana in themselves, liquidizing, or even solidifying them over time. The bigger the lodestone, the bigger the attraction. Mana infused lodestones emit a bluish hue and as you keep using the mana inside, it starts to be transparent and colorless. It can also recharge itself over time.


    The worlds are simr to coinciding alternate dimensions, but none of the sub-dimensions have any living beings except the World Authorities, beings who are essentially representatives of the world. So if you want to chuck out a fireball at an enemy you have to offer a form of lifeforce to the World of Fire and you will be able to store the energy inside yourself for up to a day and bring out your fireball into the main world in that duration. The power of your fireball will depend on how much mana you offered to the world and also your ability to shape the energy into something physical. Also, by storing the energy inside yourself, you are basically filtering the energy to be your own, which enables you to shape the energy into something you want. If you take the energy from a world and then just throw it out into the main world, it just turns into normal mana after a bit.


    List of different Worlds and their Authorities:


    World of Fire  St of the Ivari - Northern Tribes


    World of Water  Livendia Threetails, Primogenitor of the Undine - Southern Inds


    World of Earth  K''rath Azruth - Varas''hati Empire


    World of Storms  Ethez Sent - Western Kingdom


    Dark World  Hin


    Luminous World  Judeus Arcwall - Western Kingdom


    World of Space nor Elmes - Cosmic Feline


    World of the Mind  Veidrakar - representative of the Lau


    Heavy World  Number 2, aka Two Tales


    World of Time  Number 12, aka Twelve Jokes


    World of Healing  Va''eri Solvatum  Varas''hati Empire


    World of Emotions  Librack, The queen of Griffins - Southern Inds


    <strong>Mage levels</strong>


    <em>Author''s notes: I got really confused by this when I was first writing the novel. There will be a few differences as you''re reading the novel, since I first used centimeters to measure the size of mana-cores, butter I''ve decided to switch to percentages, since it''s much easier to understand. And also, like 25% of my readers are american, so I don''t really wanna use metric measurements all that much. I wanted to change kgs and lbs to something else too, but i''m not smart enough for that.</em>


    Mages are divided into five different levels generally: Beginner, quarter-core, half-core, lesser-imposer, super-imposer. The distinction is made by the size of the mana-cores, or to be more specific, by their core-to-heart ratio. This is because as the mana-core of a mage increases in size, it also kind of reces their heart.


    So, a beginner mage''s mana-core to heart ratio will be up to 1/5 to 4/5. Which means that 20% of their heart will be a mana-core. A quarter-core''s will be from 20%-40%; a half-core will be 40%-60%; a lesser-imposer''s will be 60%-80%; and a super-imposer''s heart will be 80%-100%.


    The difference between the levels is the amount of mana it can absorb:


    For example, you''re a beginner mage with a 10% mana-core. You will only be able to absorb half a kg (1.1 lbs) of mana.


    But after its size reaches 19.9% you will be able topletely absorb a 1 kg(2.2 lbs) lodestone. But, when you reach the quarter-core stage, you will have a breakthrough and the amount that you will be able to absorb will rise from 1 to 10 kg worth of mana.


    At the half-core stage you can absorb 10 - 100 kg (220 lbs) of mana. But at the Lesser-imposer stage, aside from the increase of your mana intake to a potential 1000 kgs (2200 lbs), you will be able to turn a tiny part of the main World around you into your most used/powerful magical World. At the Super-Imposer stage, arger area around you can be your most used/powerful magical World.


    As for how mages increase their core sizes... well, it should show up in the story at some point.


    <strong>Character List</strong>


    <em>Author''s notes: I will definitely forget a bunch of characters here. Comment down below to remind me of them, if you are confused, thanks.</em>


    Evin  MC


    Aran  Mage that lives in the town of Smallwall. Childhood friend of Theor and Lora. Came back after his studies ended in Arcvallen to marry Liza.


    Lora(Ivelyora Ssatsko)  Evin''s mother.


    Theor  Evin''s father.


    Elina  4th grade citizen in Evin''s house.


    Karan  A metal skinshifter who is found by Evin.


    Rith(Solraheeth Ritven)  Cosmic Feline. Evin''s observer.


    Ssatsko  Evin''s grandfather


    Sasha - Evin''s sister


    Arza  Aran''s son


    Norna - Theor''s previous boss


    Kens - mage from the West


    Nona - mage from the West


    Vulpine Mother of the Deep - Beast Lord of the Dark World.


    The Final Empress - the goddess of Alvox


    The Empty knight - one of the fourteen heroes


    Velpin Borna  Earl of the county that Smallwall town is located in.


    Arelyn Borna  Velpin''s eldest


    Olevyn Borna  Velpin''s second daughter.


    Beyn Borna  Velpin''s youngest.


    I - Beyn''s mother, Velpin''s second wife. Deceased


    Velpin''s first wife - mother to Arelyn and Olevyn. Deceased


    Unabach  Mage from the kingdom


    Relvek Dark mage from the North that defected to the South.


    Purzo  customs house on the Third Cataract


    Duchess vd  One of the four dukes of the kingdom.


    Olmar Laymont  Marquess under the Duchess


    Parvan Laymont  Arrogant young son of the Marquess


    Hector Laymont - adopted son of Olmar


    Kena - Former Authority, and pseudo-leader of the Cobfolk


    Iorn - Kena''s butler


    Lorn - Artificer in the city of Nevernight


    Rona - Lorn''s shopkeeper


    La and her father - <3


    Zack and Penelope - La''s adopted children


    Li''shan - mage of the Final revolution


    Zantis - mage of the Final revolution


    Hor''rak - mages of the Final revolution


    Gshin - mage of the Final revolution


    Zorrik Khata - leader of the Ekhri Tribe


    Losha Lyu - Evin''s temporary instructor


    Bardom Sekan - half-core child


    Koya and Rantz Lerille - twin half-core children


    Zakhlo - Ekhri Tribe instructor


    Olken - Zakhlo''s lover


    Nasst - Evin''s tutor. Very strong


    Deminte - Nasst''s political rival


    Rhea - coffee stall owner


    Ofi Pasha - Coffee shop owner from Tower City


    Runa - World Sprite which turned into a metal skinshifter


    Enri - the Vulpine Mother''s blood''s will which resides in Evin''s shadow


    Ayn - World Sprite inside Evin


    Lyn - World Sprite inside Evin


    Vyn - World Sprite inside Evin


    Kal - peak World of Fire super-imposer, leader of the Paradra


    Prophetess Irene - peak World of Thoughts super-imposer from the North


    Kortan - peak World of Storms super-imposer from the North


    The OathBreaker - Mage King of the Western Kingdom


    Vin - peak Luminous World super-imposer from the West


    Lku - peak World of Life super-imposer from the East


    Tul''kan - peak World of Earth super-imposer from the East


    Devin Elmes - peak World of Space super-imposer, Cosmic


    The Puppeteer - peak World of Emotions super-imposer, Griffin


    Onte - peak World of Water super-imposer, Undine


    <strong>Glossary</strong>


    <em>Author''s notes: I am toozy to put stuff here for today, but in hopes that it will be filled one day, I''ll just leave this name for the time being.</em>

 Chapter 1: The Wandering Soul

    Chapter 1: The Wandering Soul


    In the battered ruins of a barely standing watchtower, a disheveled man was faithfully staring at a body of a man in soldier''s garments. A sniper rifle could be seen on the dead body''s hand with some bullet cases littered on the ground. Streaks of dark blood flowed from a bullet hole in the man''s head, already clotting at some spots. The battle continued in the area, with distant gunshots breaking the eerie silence asionally.


    The sniper''s tworades soon came to the hiding spot and found their ally with a bullet stuck in his head. They forcefully shoved down their emotions down their throat and one of them went on to check on the body, while the other reported his findings into hismunication device.


    His tone was polite at first, but it soon started to sound more hostile and vulgar. Finished with his call, he drew a cross across his chest.


    He spoke to the other man and received a weary sigh in reply. They nodded at each other. No further words were needed.


    One of them carried the body and went on to walk towards the end of their cover and stopped, while the other grasped his gun tight in his hands and followed the other behind.


    The slovenly man followed behind the two soldiers intently, his eyes never leaving the dead body.


    The free soldier threw a stun grenade towards a ce he suspected enemies to be. Sounds of footsteps scattering away with panic entered their ears and the grenade exploded. A loud bang resounded in the area, and the two soldier''s ears were stunned with a dizzying ring. Since even they felt the effects of the stun grenade, it wasn''t hard to imagine how it was like for the people who got hit by the thing on a closer range. The tworades ran towards the next cover, with adrenaline rushing through his veins. Scattered gunshots came towards the two''s way, but thanks to some luck and the stun grenade, none of them hit their marks.


    The two continued on their way towards their base in a simr manner and eventually reached a spot where they would be safe after crossing a long open area.


    The disheveled man was following behind them as usual.


    Just as they were about to use another stun grenade to make a final run for safety, something nked on the walls and fell behind them.


    The two instantly recognized it as a grenade and made a mad dash towards safety. A hail of bullets came towards their way since the enemies knew they would appear there. This time, the bullets hit true and the two soldiers fell to the ground with a heavy thud one after another, blood trailing from numerous bullet wounds on their body.


    The man who was watching offered a prayer towards the two and continued watching their dead bodies in silence. The battlefield fell silent for the ensuing few minutes. Themunication device on the two''s bodies activated for a few seconds, with confused shoutsing from the other side. Then, some enemies came to loot the corpses of the three soldiers, taking their ammunition and weapons.


    None were able to notice the man that was staring at the three bodies, still and silent.


    Time passed slowly, but finally, a glimmer of interest appeared in the man''s eyes. One of the corpses started convulsing violently. The body of the sniper. Then, another soldier phased out of the dead body, this one seemingly alive and well, identical to the dead one on the ground. Confusion appeared in the revived soldier''s eyes, but gradually it was reced with the realization that he had already died. He fumbled about his surroundings, trying to understand what happened to him.


    He then saw the bodies of his tworades only ten steps away from safety and realized that they died trying to recover his dead body. The sniper started mourning the deaths of the two, crying and screaming "Why?" over and over again through the sobs.


    But after a few moments, the revived soldier then started screaming with pain, his mouth frothing and his veins convulsing.


    The disheveled man sighed with disappointment at the familiar sight. The soldier''s thrashing suddenly stopped and he eerily looked towards the man who was staring at him. He then ran towards him with a mad grin, screaming and shouting in the process.


    The soldier tried to bite and w at the man, but thetter avoided the attacks with practiced precision. He then yed chase with the soldier for a bit until the soldier''s energy seemed to run out and his body was starting to fade away.


    "Not this time either... Sigh, why do I even bother with this? They all turn mad after a few seconds and run out of energy after thrashing about. At least this one had the decency to disappear fast. I certainly don''t wish for something likest time to happen, when I had to run non stop for three days," the man muttered, thinking about the previous spirit that revived.


    "Guess I''ll go back to civilization again. I certainly don''t wish to spend my time staring at dead bodies. Hopefully, by the time I''m back, they would stay sane permanently What should I do when I get back, though..."


    As the soul was ruminating his next decision, a female voice called out to him from behind.


    "Excuse me, are you Evan?"


    The voice startled the soul briefly, with hints of disbelief and puzzlement filling his expression. Then, a mad light appeared in his eyes. He tried to smile, but only a savage grin appeared on his face. He tried to say something, but he could only stutter with his choked up throat and his shaky voice. A million different thoughts burst forth in his mind as they tried to sweep away the battered walls that held his sanity. The man could feel himself falling into a state he knew almost excessively well.


    Insanity.


    The woman who called out to him hurriedly touched the man''s head, noticing the state he was in. A pale, cold light appeared in her hands and the soul felt a sense of calming invade his mind. The broken walls of his mind seemed to mend themselves as he could finally articte proper thoughts in his brain.


    Then, endless rage reced his insanity as he remembered the state he was put in for three whole centuries. Heshed at the foreign power in his mind, trying to break the connection in a fit of blind anger.


    "I''m sorry, I didn''t realize the extent of your situation. But you must not resist, it''s for your own good. If you stubbornly refuse, I can only force it upon you," Said the woman in an imposing manner. Her words carried an intent that seemed useless to deny, as the man was subdued and he slowly regained his calm.


    Some time passed, and the man''s situationpletely stabilized.


    The man had a good look at the woman and immediately noticed that her eyes were not normal.


    ''Everything except her eyes just scream average. A small woman with an approachable round face, wearing a dark bluish jacket with light blue jeans. A type of woman I saw so many times before, but her eyes force me to change everything I would normally think of when seeing such a woman''


    There was a constantly flickering blue glow in her eyes and deep within it, a massive and violent storm raged perpetually. She was patiently waiting for him to speak with a calm and understanding expression, but the man found it unbelievable that someone with such a gaze can even make a calm face like that.


    After noting the gaze of the woman, the man finally spoke.


    "How can you converse with me?" the man slowly asked, a bit unbelieving of the fact that he was actually conversing with someone.


    He tried to hold a vignt expression, but the woman couldn''t help but notice the hope in his eyes.


    Her eyes flickered again, and she answered.


    "I''m like you, but I guess you could say I''m a legitimate existence, while you are a mistake of the cycle that was not supposed to happen"


    The man felt no anger at those words. He knew exactly what those words meant since he is the one who led such a wed life in the first ce. He nodded and asked another question.


    "What does that mean?"


    "I am what you would call an ''ascendant''. We are human souls who were chosen by the ''God'' to help manage the mortal souls on Earth. While you belong to a group of idental entities who fall outside the system of souls, who have the same attributes as us, but not enough to affect other mortal souls. In other words-"


    As she was talking, the man interrupted her abruptly.


    "Stop. I asked an unnecessary question. Why have you met me now, and what do you want from me?" Said the man hurriedly, impatience filling his head.


    He knew that the most important part was yet to be revealed, and he couldn''t waste his time on random filler. Not at the moment.


    "First of all, let me apologize for the mistake that caused your situation. The previous ''god'' of Earth has forsaken his duties, leaving you in a state between life and death. You could only wander thend of the living but not part of it, not in any real meaning at least"


    "And?"


    "We are here to offer you a solution. You cannot be reborn again on Earth, since you''ve been in this state for far too long but we do have an alternate solution for you"


    The shimmer of hope he showed before now fully upied his face. The situation dazed him as he stared at the woman. Any semnce of wariness he had had immediately vanished, as he excitedly waited for the woman to continue.


    "We will send you to a world different from ours, that uses a very simr, but different cycle of souls. We hope that you can be a proper part of the cycle there, but I can''t promise you anything regarding that. What I can promise is that you will live as a person there for until you die, meaning you will not be alone, like in this half-half state of yours."


    Various emotions appeared in the man''s mind. He was afraid that the woman was lying to him, that it was just a very cruel joke. He was afraid that others of that unknown World will learn that he''s from a different world, that they will hate and scorn him when he gets there.


    Even though he wanted to change his entire life, when the opportunity served itself on a silver tter right in front of him, he was hesitating.


    ''I lived a life of solitude for three whole centuries. So why am I reluctant to part with this hell? If the woman is lying, then that''s all it is. She''ll y me like a fool, and then I will continue my wretched existence. But if she''s telling the truth, then''


    "I ept. What do I have to do? What must I do?"


    The woman smiled and lightly chuckled.


    "Don''t worry about such things. In all honesty, your existence here is disrupting the bnce of the cycle, so we had to do something about you, anyway"


    The man smiled brightly at that, the madness in his eyes threatening to take over again.


    "Great... Great! Oh, how could I have imagined it would be like this?! No matter! Let''s just get it over with. Send me to that world! Now!"


    The man''s words started to lose coherence, and he madly shook the woman with his dirt ridden hands. The other nodded with a sigh, then muttered something unintelligible.


    A dark spot flickered in the air and then violently ripped apart the surrounding space. The air fluctuated for a bit, and then it finally seemed to stabilize. The woman pointed at the dark spot and said to the spirit.


    "Enter that ck spot and just keep chanting Alvox. Don''t stop until you either feel nothing or until you lose consciousness.


    "Okay!" The man said eagerly and tried to jump right into the darkness, but the woman''s hands stopped him.


    "Strive for eternity or strive for true death, lest your broken existencees back to haunt you once more," a cryptic warning came out of the woman''s lips.


    Her words shocked the man briefly, but after a second he nodded gravely and jumped into the portal without hesitation.


    Soon after the man left, the woman sat on the ground and sighed.


    "He''s slightly unstable, but it''s not a problem in the long run. He''ll most likely stabilize in his new mother''s womb, so I don''t have to worry about his mental state too much. After this, only fate will have a hand in his life now. Though, he is quite interesting, so I can''t be sure that the Empress will intervene..."


    Her thoughts seemed to amuse her and she continued muttering.


    "The first anomaly to appear after the Highest authority abandoned his duties. Living in solitude for three hundred years, while also keeping himself from turning into an instinct embodiment. Heh, such stubbornness"


    She stood up with some effort and patted the dust off her clothes. Her eyes looked tired as she thought about her next target. She thought about the thousands of ''mistakes'' she had to y and her eyes red brightly.


    "Fucking ''gods'' and their whims"


    ***


    "Alvox, Alvox, Alvox, Alvox" the man chanted the words the woman told him as he felt his body being stretched beyond the limits of any living human being imaginable. There were iprehensible things happening around him, withs and stars turning into pulled noodles, and he himself joining their ranks.


    An infinite amount of dots became lines, and together they became a white ne that filled his entire vision.


    The surrounding phenomena slowly stopped, and he felt his consciousness fade. He would sometimes be aware of his surroundings, but more often than not, he would be asleep.


    During thepses of consciousness the man had, he could feel himself trapped in a membrane of flesh, with sounds of blood circting around him. He guessed that he was in his new mother''s womb and that single realization brought him immeasurable happiness.


    ''I will live once more!'' the man would dere with his newly forming brain cells. How he was even able to think, he didn''t know. But it didn''t matter. He would live once more...


    ...


    The man could feel his weary mind heal during the time in his new mother''s womb and thendscape of madness that is his mind slowly mend itself to a healthy state. He felt assured that he will not act like a madman after he was born, but with his birth bing more and more imminent, he developed a different worry.


    He started wondering about what kind of world he will go into. It could be the stone age for all he knew. He would still be happy if it''s like that, but there''s a big difference between a modern world and an ancient one.


    The human desire was one without end. Take one thing, and you would already think about the next thing you could gain.


    ''The woman told me to strive for eternity, so I''d guess that people can be immortal in that world. Perhaps it is a world of immortals and gods?''


    The man decided that it''s not worth worrying about such things and patiently waited for his birth. But with nothing else to do inside his mother''s womb, his thoughts would naturally be directed towards the dreaded topic.


    And finally, the day of his birth hade. He could feel his body being pushed to an opening that emitted light, as his skin scraped through flesh, which he could only guess was his mother''sher regions.


    ''Who knew how ufortable the process of birthing was to an intelligent being,'' the man was thinking, but a problem seemed to emerge as he could feel himself getting stuck on something.


    He fell in and out of consciousness during the whole thing, and at one point he even felt like he had died, but when his consciousness reemerged, one word put an end to all of that, and the man knew his life had started in the new World.


    "Eviendra"

 Chapter 2: The Newborn and His Past

    Chapter 2: The Newborn and His Past


    In a room filled with adults making relieved faces, a small life finally drew its first breath.


    The newborn could feel himself being held in the arms of a woman as she gently caressed his head.


    ''She must be my new mother'' the child guessed.


    "The baby lives! He came back to life! Oh, blessings of the Empress!" cried a girl next to him and then he saw a silhouette of a burgundy-haired man hurriedly bringing out a brightly glowing blue rock. The light of the rock flickered and then dimmed by a slight amount, and then he saw the man emit a cold green shine. He felt a foreign energy run through his body, almost like some gaze was peeking through his everything.


    The man nodded slightly and tried to call out to another man, but thetter''s panicked voice interrupted the man, who was holding the now dim rock.


    "What?! Miracles do exist! The Empress'' blessings for this child! Aran!" the child''s new father bellowed.


    "I have checked his state through the World of Healing, don''t worry. I can''t understand how such a thing can happen, but the world is whimsical and miraculous. Let us thank the Empress for her benevolence," the mage named Aran exined.


    "Lora, hear that? He''s fine, the child''s fine. You can rest easy now, bless your soul"


    A soft acknowledging sound came from the woman holding the child as she struggled to keep her eyes open, but her arms hold the child so tightly and dearly, that one could never imagine her dropping it. The panicking father noticed the woman''s weakened state and eximed again: "Mage Aran!"


    "She''s just tired, let her sleep. Elina, take the baby from her," the mage said to the girl who cried out, and she took the child from his mother''s clutches.


    "Yes, Lord Mage"


    The newborn couldn''t understand anything they were saying, but he didn''t have to worry that much, since extreme fatigue suddenly hit his mind and he fell asleep soon afterwards.


    ***


    Soon after the child fell asleep, its father and the mage were talking about some matters.


    "The child is fine. I thought there would be something wrong with him, because of his apparent rebirth, but I couldn''t really find anything wrong with him even with the help of magic. There were cases of certain parasites inhabiting newborn babies, but I found no trace of such urrence in the child''s body, so it is fine. I''ll be back tomorrow to check on him again. May the Empress bless your boy with wisdom and health," the mage said.


    "Thank you Aran, we will definitely repay you for all the help you have given us," the child''s father replied.


    "Don''t bother. My spells have done nothing. It was only the whims of fate that granted your child his life back. Let the mother and child rest. Oh and also, the child seems to feel the glow of ''mana''. I''ll bring a few lodestones tomorrow and check if he can perceive mana properly. But I''m quite sure you will have a talented mage in your family, Theor"


    The mage''s words shook the father, Theor, as thetter hurriedly replied.


    "Are you sure? If that is true then our future will be set! I must tell my father when hees back. I''m sure he will be overjoyed, he was always reluctant to leave Lora with me, at least he''ll see that I have some good blood in my lineage."


    Aran chuckled and continued.


    "Don''t get your hopes too high, I might''ve been wrong"


    "How can you be wrong on anything rted to magic? You''re a mage of Arcvallen! Even when we were small, idiot children, you were always the smarter one. Sometimes, I still can''t believe you came back to us," said Theor, shaking his head.


    "Haha, I''m too softhearted to endure the plots of big cities, so life in this tiny town is the one that fits me the most. Besides, it''s not like this ce doesn''t have any attractions"


    Theor showed a knowing smile when he heard that.


    "Hah, you and your Liza. Who thought the arrogant mage apprentice who left for the big world woulde back for his childhood sweetheart. She refused every man that asked her for five years! You don''t know how lucky you are. How is she, by the way? She just had little Arza, didn''t she?"


    Aran made a troubled face and continued.


    "Never better, but Arza is such a pain in the ass. I never thought I would find something more troublesome than my academy graduation paper"


    Theorughed and said.


    "Haha, if you didn''t want the trouble, you shouldn''t have had the brat in the first ce"


    "True that. Well, see you tomorrow, take care of Lora"


    After Aran left, Theor couldn''t help but be happy.


    ''If we get a mage in our family, then our future is practically set in stone. I won''t even have to worry about anything other than his growth. I just hope the upper echelons of the kingdom will not send him to some meaningless war''


    ''I''ll tell father and we''ll buy introductory magic books. How do these things work in the first ce? I must teach the kid how to read first. Damn, the little thing''s got me all excited''


    ''I''ll also have to talk with Lora when she wakes up. I heard her call him Eviendra. We can''t have our little mage live with a foreign name. It would be fine if he was to be a hunter like his grandfather, but not if he''s a mage''


    Theor thought with glee while happily humming some random tune.


    The day after, the newborn child woke up and found himself in his mother''s hug. His mother''s most prominent feature was her long, dark blonde hair that continued on to her shoulders. It was naturally wavy, decorating her overall appearance greatly. Her face was thin and round, and she had this goody-two-shoes atmosphere to her.


    His father, on the other hand, was a slightly plump man with a constant smile on his face. With his burly ck hair and a shining row of white teeth, he looked extremely amiable to the eyes.


    He couldn''t see too well, since his eyes haven''t yet adjusted to the light, but his parents seemed to be quite young. As far as he could tell, he didn''t have any other siblings in the house other than a teenage girl, but he could tell that she wasn''t his sister, based on how his parents treated the teen. The teen had freckles on her face, and a short, thin hair.


    So perhaps he was the first child of a young new family?


    As for his house, it was a bit on the empty side. He could only see the terribly solid wooden bed that his mother usually left him on, a weathered wooden table with a chipped edge, a ss window with a wooden barrier, a small chair with a tilted back support and a stack of clothes folded neatly on a wooden tform.


    Although every furniture looked old and used, the house itself was made very neatly. You could see that the wall with the window looked very clean and orderly, the limestone binder having basically no dents or rough spots. And the wooden details on the wall that separated his room from the others were so perfectly symmetric, he''d sometimes think that every wood in this world grew in the exact same manner.


    Although his new house was in a bit of a poor state, it had a warm and cozy atmosphere, so he couldn''t reallyin.


    As for himself, he seemed to have stabilizedpletely. That woman back on Earth did something to him when he had a breakdown and it calmed him down. But he could tell that it was just a temporary fix and that he would probably go crazy soon after, but this time, he felt like his reincarnationpletely cured him with no aftereffects. Perhaps it had something to do with how his soul shifting into an entirely new body.


    But the newborn himself wasn''t really worried about it. Instead, he was focused on his future in this World.


    ''Don''t you usually use the information you get from your previous world to get rich and powerful, then live a life with no worries? Oh, there''s probably a Demon Lord or something that needs to be defeated, he-heh.''


    ''That''s not good. I don''t want my town to be the catalyst that pushes me to my hero''s journey. I''m also afraid I''ll ditch the journey halfway through, since I would definitely find such a journey way too much trouble.''


    ''Why am I even thinking about ying a goddamn Demon Lord? Even if there was one, I''ll do my utmost best to steer away from such trouble.''


    The newborn was regretful he spent hisst century reading fiction and didn''t read things rted to technology and whatnot. If he was a reincarnated quantum scientist and not a useless ghost, he would probably be thinking about atoms and particles, instead of random Demon Lords.


    He could probably be some sort of tycoon here with all the convenient items and inventions that he could introduce. Well, the idea was still there, so maybe he would still be able to do something about it. At least he would know which ideas would fail and which of them would prosper.


    You would think that normally, if you could live for three hundred years, you would be a smart and educated person, knowledgeable in various fields and professions. Well, you would probably be right if the person who lived for such a long time could interact with others.


    Humans are social animals. If no one else could acknowledge all your hard work, one would just fall into an endless pit of lethargy. Waiting for the next thing to relieve their boredom.


    When he wasn''t wandering some battlefield, or cemetery in hopes of chancing upon a lingering spirit like himself, his usual pastime was to spend days in various entertainment establishments like cinemas or libraries; or he would stalk some unknowing person, who he found interesting, or just had a random crush on.


    The other not-so-happy-times... his feeble mind wasn''t able to take the pressure of loneliness, thus he let his mind fall into insanity. He didn''t know what he did during thesepses, but he always found himself in various interesting ces after he regained his sanity.


    He once found himself practically shivering to ''death'' on top of a random mountain in the Middle East. As a spirit, he couldn''t die, but he could definitely feel things, so that descent from the mountain was not something he wished to redo.


    ''What the hell was I doing back then?'' he would think.


    He also once found his sanity back on a skyscraper construction site, running on a steel beam hundreds of meters high in the air. He remembered that he suddenly panicked and almost fell down, but managed to find his bnce in the end. Later he found that he had be a parkour professional. He didn''t know how, he could simply knew exactly what to do with his body in certain situations.


    ''What the hell was I doing up there?''


    He asked himself such questions so many times; he had lost count of it all.


    He didn''t know why his madness came in a form like that. A long period of sanity and apse of insanity that he could not remember any part of, no matter how much he tried to. He figured it was a way for his consciousness to take a rest somehow, so he didn''t mind it that much. It wasn''t like he was hurt in any way, in the first ce.


    ''For me, my three hundred years was just a story of a man entertaining himself with anything or anyone he found interesting and asionally going insane'' the man snickered at his own joke inside his mind.


    As the child continued to entertain himself in his head like he always did for arge portion of his undeath, his parents'' discussion interrupted his ruminations.


    The child tried to guess the contents of their conversation, since they seemed to be talking about something quite important. His father was trying to convince his mom of something, but she was adamantly refusing.


    The child couldn''t understand a word they were saying, so he just silently watched them as they argued.


    ''I should startprehending thenguage in about two to three months, right? How long do these things take anyway?'' he pondered.


    The most he realized was that his mom''s name was Lora, while his father''s name was Theor. He also sometimes heard them call someone named Elina. Their names sounded a bit Western, but thenguage was anything but. Also, his name seemed to be Evindre or something since that was the first thing he heard after he was born.

 Chapter 3: Mana Mania

    Chapter 3: Mana Mania


    Unbeknownst to their child''s inner ruminations, Lora and Theor continued to argue about the issue at hand.


    "You promised you would let me name him. You named Sasha, and I was supposed to name our next child!"


    Protested Lora and a helpless expression appeared on Theor''s face.


    "But the child might be a mage when he grows up! Who knows if he will someday go to Arcvallen like Aran. He might even be a High-mage like the Duke of the North! I understand you want to be filial to your father, but the child can''t have a northern name. He''ll face endless troubles if the upper echelon thinks he''s a foreigner!"


    "Who cares! Who says he will be a court mage in the first ce! It''s not even confirmed if he''s a mage! He isn''t even two days old!"


    Lora raised her voice and held her child tighter.


    "Are you saying you''ll reconsider if he''s confirmed to be a mage? I''ll let you rename Sasha if you let me name our little mage," Theor said while looking expectantly at Lora.


    "Don''t y games with me, Theo. And don''t talk about changing your daughter''s name as if you were talking about changing your dirty socks! Be a man and stay true to your words!"


    Lora snapped and defiantly looked away from Theor. Theor sighed and seemed to give up.


    "Sigh, sorry Lora, but you understand I''m just doing what I think best for our child"


    ""


    Lora didn''t even nce back at him, and just caressed the child''s head with her hands.


    As Theor was about to continue apologizing, a knock came from the door.


    Elina opened the door and found mage Aran with a small pouch hanging by his side. Aran was a tall man with broad shoulders. But his natural pose was on the slouching side, so a bookwormy atmosphere surrounded him. His slightly red hair messily hanging on top of his head further pushed that image.


    The child realized that it was the same person who visited him the previous day.


    "Sorry for intruding again. I''m here to see if your kid is a mage or not. What''s his name, by the way? What''s up with you two?" said Aran, after noticing the weird atmosphere in the room.


    "We were just talking about that. Lora wants to give him a northern name, and I think it''s bad for his future, since he''s supposed to be a mage in the Western kingdom. Who knows what those court mages will think if they hear him having a foreign name"


    Replied Theor, feeling hopeful that Aran will take his side.


    "I won''t say that such things don''t exist in Arcvallen''s mage circles, but I can honestly tell you that you don''t have to worry about those things. Thanks to thete king Rowan Arcwall''s decree of finding and nurturing every single mage in the kingdom, the amount ofmoners in mage circles has be much higher. So a few exotic names won''t garner any unwanted attention. Besides, in the end, we''re still part of the same Empire," Aran replied in a matter-of-fact way.


    Having his hopes crushed by his childhood friend, Theor started grasping at straws.


    "But his name''s Eviendra! It even sounds like a girl''s name, doesn''t it?"


    Hearing the name, Aran pondered a little and then asked.


    "What''s it''s meaning? Sounds familiar."


    "Wisdom drakeling," murmured Lora, and then quickly added, "He''s very, very smart. He hasn''t cried at all since he woke up, and he just looks around the room with curiosity. His eyes are still a bit dim, but you can see him trying to see everything around with all his effort. He didn''t even get upset when Theo and I started arguing. I''m sure he''ll be someone great in the future, so I called him that."


    Theor, hearing Lora say that she was sure that the child was going to be someone important, wanted to say something, but wisely decided against it.


    Hearing her answer, Aran nodded thoughtfully, but no one seemed to notice his weird pause. The mage shook his head andmented.


    "Well, I personally would love to watch your boy be the next Eviendrakar. But it is a bit of a mouthful, so why not just call him Evin in normal times"


    "That is a good idea, Aran. Lora, please tell me you won''t be stubborn about this too"


    Quickly added Theor, finally seeing some hope in the matter.


    Lora blushed and replied.


    "I would feel embarrassed calling my son a wisdom drakeling every single day. Evin is a good way to call him, thank you Aran"


    "Ha-ha, your wee then. Well, I''m here to check if he has the talents of a mage. After all, I''ve never heard of a dragon that can''t channel the worlds," the mage said with augh and opened his suitcase.


    The curious Evin''s attention immediately went to the blue rocks in the suitcase. The shine they emitted was brighter and clearer than anything he saw with his eyes.


    Then, as if the demons got the better of him, his mind nked and only one thought filled his mind.


    He needed that crystal.


    Following his instincts, he tried to get to the crystal as soon as possible, struggling against her mother''s panicked clutches.


    He would usually be afraid that his reaction would be too unnatural, but at that moment all his thoughts were on how to get to that crystal as fast as possible. Unfortunately, her mother was able to stop his attempt. But obviously, that didn''t stop his hands from swiping at the rock like some crazed drug addict.


    "He is definitely abnormal. I''ve seen children react weirdly when first seeing a mana lodestone, but never this strongly," Aran said, inspecting Evin with interest.


    "Just give him the stone!" Lora shrieked and tried to take the lodestone from Aran''s hands. Seeing her child''s weird state, she couldn''t help but make an irrational decision.


    "Whoa, calm down! How are you also joining your kid''s mania? Here, take it"


    Surprised by Lora''s sudden change, Aran gave Evin the small lodestone he brought out. Evin immediately calmed down, and confusedly stared at the stone in his tiny clutches. Then, as if he suddenly realized what he just did, he slowly nced around the room to see the reactions of the surrounding people.


    Lora had a content expression for a little while, then gradually her brows creased, as she seemed to realize that there was something was terribly wrong with this whole situation.


    Aran saw Evin''s reaction, and for a second, he seemed to see veryplex emotions in the expressions of the two-day-old child. His gaze became sharp and slightly dangerous.


    Theor was simply confused with the urrence, showing a dumb, nk look while looking at his son.


    Evin immediately felt great worry.


    ''Probably not something a two-day-old kid would do''


    ''Fuck...''


    In the small bedroom of a neatly made wooden house, a very peculiar atmosphere emerged between three adults and one newborn. While the sudden change of the newborn shocked the adults, it was the newborn himself who felt the greatest surprise. A two-day-old child almost overpowered his mother''s grasp to snatch away some shiny rock from a man.


    He knew of many different unbelievable stories from when he was wandering the world, but he knew that it was physically impossible for him to move like that in reality. So how was he able to suddenly gain powers simr to a three-year-old child?


    He warily looked at the adults in the room and felt slightly relieved. They only looked confused and shocked. If they had traces of fear or panic, then it would most likely be more troublesome. Fear and panic meant that simr things happened in the past, and they were most probably bad things. Confusion could eventually be fear, but Evin felt that the problem did not reach those levels yet.


    ''In the first ce, this whole thing happened because of this stone. What''s the deal with it?''


    Evin had another good look at it, and he noted its features in his mind. The stone was only the size of an adult''s pinky, but Evin knew that there was something very special about it. It had lines in it that were simr to veins in it, and it would sometimes pulse inwards with bright blue light. It weighted basically the same as a normal rock, perhaps even lighter, but it felt to Evin as if the stone''s center of weight would shift a tiny bit with every pulsation.


    Evin could feel the weight shift thanks to his newborn body, but he was quite confident the bigger ones would have simr qualities.


    The stone reminded Evin of the woman who sent him to this new World. Since he spent some time in his mother''s womb, he figured it was about 9 months since hest saw her. The Storm flickering in her eyes might have been the very same pulsations on the stone.


    ''This thing gives such a huge sci-fi vibe''


    Connecting those stray thoughts, Evin was sure that this new World had magic in it, and these stones yed a huge role in it. He was not a hundred percent sure, but he also remembered that the adult named Aran used magic to scan his body the previous day.


    Evin felt a bit worried about his sudden outburst, so he decided to check what the adults in the room did next.


    "Well, we definitely know that Evin is a mage," Said Aran, seeing Evin''s pondering face.


    "Was that supposed to happen? I know nothing about magic, except some dumb rumors and stories, but that didn''t seem very normal," Theor asked worriedly and with a slight confusion.


    Theor and Lora could not see the pulsing glow that the rock inside Evin''s hands emitted. It only looked like a slightly dim, blue crystal, with some practically unnoticeable lines running through it. They knew mages loved these things, so if they ever found it in the wild, they would make sure to collect it, but aside from that, they knew nothing.


    Aran nodded his head and answered.


    "Although it''s rare, it''s not unheard of for some mage newborns to perform actions that seem impossible for normal babies. Most people agree that their mana-core can give them spontaneous spurts of energy, so you will be able to see them perform small miracles. There''s a few other things I should mention to you, but I''ll say itter. For now, what''s important is why he acted in this way," Aran said and smiled in a schrly way. Pointing at the lodestone in Evin''s hands, he began exining:


    "I''ve never heard of anything like this happening in children, but there are such cases in adults. It happened to some prisoners who were locked in a mana-blocked cell. They''re meant for exceedingly dangerous mages who can never be allowed ess to the slightest sliver of ''mana''. In any case, after they''re cut off from their ess to mana, they would usually get extremely agitated after a little while, some of them even bing permanently insane. And whenever they see a lodestone, they would react simrly to your child"


    "How can that be? He was never in any ce with little mana in his life. Also, Evin seemed quite normal before seeing the stone, no?" Lora asked.


    "Honestly, I don''t know. Maybe his mana-core is just bigger than others, so he has a much sharper reaction to them," Said Aran, then after pondering for a bit, continued: "Now that I think about it, some other newborns really did have weird reactions with their first exposure to ''mana''. I know of one who couldn''t sleep without a mana lodestone in the room, and I have heard of another who would stare at them every chance they get. Also, there are also the legends of our founding king Judeus Arcwall, about how he was afraid of anything that emitted ''mana'' at first, because he felt that they were alive, but after he got over his fears, he became a mage so powerful only the Empress was above him"


    Lora, who was worried about her child''s safety, rxed, and added on Aran''s words to further convince herself that everything was okay.


    "That is true, my father also told me of the Ivari founder St''s story of how he would try to stick two mana lodestones to his forehead when he was a child, andter in his life, he disappeared into the Wilderness, and came back with two actual horns on his forehead able to channel mana. They also say that the Varas''hati Empire''s Emperor Vasheen used to spend most of his childhood talking to mana lodestones"


    Hearing about the Varas''hati Empire, Theor snorted and added.


    "Humph, those sphemous barbarians. What gall do they have to name their collection of states an Empire? I swear to the Empress, only thanks to her infinite mercy they can get away with such heresy"


    "They aren''t dubbed the ''death-smitten'' for nothing. I just hope the tragedy of dragonshifters will not happen to them." Aran said, and a brief silence filled the room.


    "How''s Evin, by the way? Can you take the stone from him?" Aran asked, suddenly remembering their original problem.


    Lora cautiously took the stone away from Evin, afraid that the child will have another fit. But contrary to her expectations, her child showed no abnormal reactions again.


    "He seems okay, I thought he would try to get it back, but that went much better than I expected"

 Chapter 4: The Children of the Empress

    Chapter 4: The Children of the Empress


    Meanwhile, Evin was still thinking about the new element that appeared in the new world.


    He was also afraid that something might happen again if the stone was taken away from him, but luckily, everything was fine this time.


    He kept forgetting about the matter asionally, since it was so foreign and bizarre for him, but this world had magicians. He didn''t really know what exactly magic can do, but it''s probably not something at the level of parlor tricks. And most likely, there was segregation between people who can and cannot use magic, and obviously one would want to be part of the former in this world.


    And there were also the final words of the woman who sent him to this world, ''Strive for eternity or strive for true death''.


    ''What does she mean by that? Do I have to be immortal? Her words imply that people can be immortal in this ce, right? Unfortunately, my parents don''t really look immortal to my eyes''


    ''Wait, she herself said that she was an ascendant or something,'' Evin had received a hint that he could be immortal in the new world, and he was being more and more confident that magic was the way to achieve that goal.


    ''Perhaps I should''ve asked for more information from her now that I think about it. Instead, I just impatiently jumped at the opportunity she presented to me,'' Evinmented. He waited for three hundred years, so it shouldn''t have been too hard to wait a few more minutes.


    ''Shit, I just don''t know anything''


    ''But it''s not too bad, this ce has someone who knows how to use magic, anyway. And I''m a little kid who''s supposed to not know anything. And if I start showing off my intelligence early, he might take me as his disciple or something'' Evin pondered and a hopeful expression appeared on his face.


    So, if he decided to focus on magic from now on, what should he start doing? Practice magic, obviously, but how did one do magic? Did he have to chant a spell, or did he need to feel and shape energy to his will? Or maybe it waspletely different from what he was expecting.


    He needed a teacher for the first and third cases, so that was off for until he could talk at least. Evin also figured that he could just ask his parents in a curious way in the future.


    ''Wait, but when is it socially eptable for children to begin talking?'' Evin thought, but decided to worry about itter.


    But for the time being, his only clue was the stone.


    ''Should I try to let him leave the stone with me? Perhaps If I wailed at the top of my lungs, maybe they''ll let me keep it?'' Evin thought but he didn''t want to wail that much, he''d feel bad for his parents after all.


    ''That Aran guy is the owner of the stone, so I can''t overdo it if he looks unwilling to part with the stone.''


    Evin decided to just try it and see.


    Just as the adults in the room were thinking that things have calmed down, the child suddenly started wailing again. Evin started crying and then trying to reach the stone with his arms.


    "Ah, he''s wanting the lodestone again. It''s not as bad as the previous time, since he doesn''t seem that desperate to get it. It just looks exactly the same as Sasha''s tantrums," Said Lora, and hid the stone from Evin''s sights.


    Noticing her mother''s actions, Evin decided to cry even more.


    "Haha, looks like the child won''t be tricked so easily. Let him cry a bit more and he''ll forget about it" Said Theor,ughing loudly.


    Evin proved how Theor was wrong and cried for much longer than what was considered ''overdoing it''. Perhaps his long life screwed his sense of time in some way.


    "It''s just a small piece, you can keep it and let Evin y with it. Ah, make sure to tie it to a stick first so he doesn''t swallow it. Arza loves them as well, so I know Evin will try to eat it at some point," said Aran absentmindedly and after taking out another lodestone from his suitcase, he briefly made a solemn face and after a few dozen seconds, he then looked at Evin again.


    Evin saw the man''s chest emit a cold green light again, and the same piercing gaze looked through him again. But this time he focused a lot more on the process, trying to work out anything that might be helpful in understanding magic for himself.


    ''It''s the same thing he did yesterday. I haven''t noticed it before, but the stone was definitely crucial in the process. He didn''t chant anything, but the stone''s light dimmed slightly and after a slight dy, he started emitting the green light. After that, the light gathered on his eyes as he focused his gaze on me''


    First thing Evin noticed was that there was no need for a chant. Secondly, he noted that the energy gathered in the man''s chest, and then went to his eyes.


    Evin thought that perhaps he needed to visualize the magic somehow, hence the reason for the energy gathering in his eyes. The other possibility was that since the mage used magic to look through him, the energy gathered in his eyes.


    Evin was leaning towards thetter guess, since there was no need for the energy to gather in his chest area, then go to his eyes.


    "He''s a healthy child, as far as I can tell... Before I leave, I should probably tell you the differences between a mage baby and a non-mage baby," Aran dered.


    "What kind if things?" Theor asked, trying his best topare Sasha''s growth with Evin''s.


    "First, a mage child''s brains will develop much faster than a normal one. As you can see, he''s already able to distinguish objects, and grab them in his hands. I''m pretty sure he''s able to do some other impossible feats, it''s just that we don''t know it yet... If for example, Evin was a normal child, he would likely develop these abilities in about half a year, if not longer," Aran paused, thinking of something.


    "What other differences do they have?" Lora asked, coddling Evin.


    "Oh, I can list a few. A normal baby will start walking and talking in about a year and a half, while Evin would do the same in about half a year... Could be less, could me more. Soon after, he''ll probably start running around. So, if you feel like he''s growing a bit too fast, don''t panic," Aran reminded and prepared to leave.


    "I''ll take my leave here. Perhaps you can bring Evin to our house to y with Arza when they are a bit older. Also, if you have something to ask, don''t worry about bothering me," Aran said to the couple.


    "You won''t stay for lunch? Elina is making some food. She cooks very well, I''m always surprised by the various dishes she cooks up in the house," Said Lora, hearing Aran''s words.


    "I''ll have to hurry home today. Some officials of the kingdom were bothering me a few days ago and I don''t want them toe when Liza''s alone," Said Aran and then bade farewell.


    Before exiting the house, Aran slipped out a small metal rod, decorated with various small inscriptions that formed a closed eye from his pouch and attached it next to the door. The metal rod soon disappeared from the eyes of the others, and the drawing of the closed eye suddenly nced open and the pupil that was made out of words started eyeing around the house silently.


    Closing the door behind him, Aran walked towards his home, muttering some things out loud, one of his bad habits that refused to disappear.


    "Perhaps I should kill him?"


    "The boy is obviously a Child of the Empress, that much is obvious"


    Even though he spoke about all those things about mage children being smart, he knew that they weren''t<em>this</em>smart.


    "I wonder where the ''recement''es from? He doesn''t seem to know magic, so perhaps he was one of those lucky normal people"


    "Or maybe he is simply acting. His reaction to mana was quite extreme. The only ces with so little mana are the mana-blocked cells, where most dangerous prisoners are kept. If that is so, the "recement" is most likely not such a pleasant individual. But it all sounds a bit too illogical..."


    Aran had never heard of any newborn reacting to mana in such a way. But even with his short 30 or so years of studying magic, the one thing he thoroughly understood was that nothing was concrete in the field of magic.


    "Sigh, time will tell. I mustn''t do anything for now. I can''t just kill a possibly innocent ''child'' because of my suspicions. I''ll check upon what he''s doing with the sentry device for the time being"


    "Perhaps I should inform Theor and Lora about Evin''s true nature. No That is the choice of the Children. I don''t have the right to meddle my head in any of that"


    Finished with his thoughts, Aran decided on a wait and see approach.


    Evin was sitting on his bed, a smug smile forming on his face, oblivious to the danger he just dodged.


    Soon after the mage left, Evin finally got the stone he cried so much for. It was a bit surprising to see it tied on a stick, but he got what he wanted so he was content.


    Evin really felt like a toddler who won against his parents with his tantrum, and he honestly felt quite good about it. He got to keep the stone after all.


    ''The random pulsations are quite desensitizing now that I take a good look at it,'' Evin thought briefly, before getting to work.


    He first tried doing what that man did. He tried to see his body the same way, like he was scanning through it.


    The man seemed to absorb some kind of energy from the stone and afterwards shaped it to what he wanted, so he decided to try doing that.


    ''Absorb the mana. Absorb the mana. Visualize the power, feel the power. Imagine the power umting in your chest. And then they gather in my cursed left eye! Ignore the cringey feeling inside you and just let it go. Magic is real and thoughts like this are normal in this world''


    He couldn''t really feel anything different, except a gradually increasing feeling of embarrassment. Perhaps what he was doing ispletely wrong and someone saying stuff like absorb the mana and gather it in your eye <em>was</em> quite cringe.


    ''Stop getting distracted. Just focus on your task. Let''s try to imagine or visualize the things I will try to do''


    As Evin tried and failed to get any results with the magic session, he started to feel a bit hopeless. The stone didn''t show any new reaction, and he himself didn''t feel anything new either.


    He also couldn''t get anything to work. He tried to imagine seeing his body in a different way. He tried to do some other harmless stuff like making water puddle, creating a breeze or just moving dust.


    He finally concluded that he simply didn''t have enough information. He needed to learn thenguage first of all. After that, he would try to catch some info from his parents and that mage guy. He should be able to start speaking after 3 months, but he decided to wait a year to start articting words. He didn''t know if there are cases of newborn babies being controlled by devils or whatnot, and he didn''t want to overdo things.


    ''The mage scanned me two times already. It can''t be because he just feels like doing it. Nothing I can do, except wait and hope. At least I''m alive and kicking while waiting for new developments''


    Powerlessness was something he felt for a long, long time. Waiting was also something he did for a very long time.


    Evin didn''t know what he was waiting for when he was dead, but he waited and waited. And a chance really dide to him.


    He didn''t admit it when he was a wandering soul, but he was always hoping. Hoping that someone will save him. Hoping that all of it will end someday. Hoping for a better future for himself.


    He could admit that fact now, because the dark times were over.


    But, acknowledging your hopeful feelings in those dark days Such an act was simply too painful for him. Evin knew that clinging to hope could very easily break him. It was better to let it go andpromise with the situation.


    With such thoughts, Evin soon fell asleep on the bed.

 Chapter 5: Facing oppression

    Chapter 5: Facing oppression


    The following couple months, Evin spent his time learning thenguage from the conversations that urred inside the house. His mother helped him quite a lot, since she would spend most of her free time talking with him about this and that, pointing out objects with her fingers.


    After two months, he could already understand most of the words his parents were saying, but decided not to start talking. The more he thought about it, the more he realized how suspicious he looked in the eyes of that mage named Aran.


    Aran seemed to be a close friend of his parents, and he woulde to his house sometimes for a drink or some other matter.


    He learned a few things about his new life from all the conversations with his parents, but nothing that would help him with his magic studies. He wanted to listen to Aran a lot more, even though the man scared Evin to death but just as he was getting the hang of thenguage, the officials sent Aran to some war with the Southern Inds.


    As for some general information, Evin''s family lived in Smallwall town, located in the northernmost spot of the Western Kingdom and as far as he heard, there were four major countries in this world: The Northern Tribes, The Western Kingdom, The Eastern Oasis, aka the Varas''hati Empire and the Southern Inds.


    Evin''s mother was from the Northern Tribes and her full name was Ivelyora Ssatsko, though everyone simply called her Lora. Evin concluded that the rtionship between the West and the North was ambiguous at best, due to how others seemed to treat her. Evin couldn''t really understand everything that was happening, but Evin heard his parents throwing around words like "citizen grades", and "social levels" quite a lot, but there wasn''t a lot for Evin to work with.


    There were problems with the other two countries as well. The Southern Inds and the Varas''hati Empire. Most of the dinnertime stories that his father told the family were about the Southerners. As for the Varas''hati Empire, he just seemed to hate the country a bit too passionately.


    The Southern Inds were, ording to Evin''s father, was a nation full of warmongering savage monsters, who didn''t have enoughnd to live in. They constantly waged war against other countries, and it was usually the neighboring Kingdom or the Oasis who took the brunt of their attacks. Evin couldn''t reallyprehend how a country could perpetually wage war against two countries and still survive in this world. The resources and soldiers that were used up in a war were not a joke. He spectated many battles on Earth, hoping to find someone who will turn into a ghost like himself, so he was notpletely oblivious when it came to war rted matters.


    The other one was the Varas''hati Empire. As the name would suggest, it was supposed to be a powerful country that dominated the continent, but it was actually the weakest and smallest of the four countries. Not only that, the four countries were part of an actual Empire, known as simply, The Empire.


    The name that Evin heard most often aftering to this world was the name of the Empire''s ruler, The Final Empress. From what he could hear, she was the absolute Overlord of the countries, unmatched by anyone under the heavens. Her single word stood above the united opinion of every individual that lived on the, her any order was given precedence over any matter that was happening in the countries. Even thews of nature and magic would bend to Her Majesty''s will. A proper god, as one would say.


    Evin saw the legitimacy of the woman''s words when he heard that the Empress lived on for at least a millennium, with no signs of aging a single year. This greatly piqued his curiosity since it was a clue to immortality. He hope his parents would talk more about the Empress, but sadly, they would mostly just pray to her, or praise her. He wondered what it would be like if he could live so long, but alive and well.


    Anyway, although she had the full capability and authority to rule the Empire under her rule, the Empress never took interest in anything the mortals under her did. She simply lived in her ck Tower at the center of the continent, only showing herself to the public every decade during the celebration of her eternal rule, also known as the Velvet Procession. This unusual ruling method of hers let the Four countries have absolute freedom to do whatever they wanted.


    The countries under Her Majesty''s rule were constantly in war with each other, doing everything they could to expand their rule. After Aran left for the war, Theor talked about how the countries used to be more afraid of the Empress, doing everything they could to pull the Empress'' favor to their sides. But little by little, they realized that she would never move for them, so they instead started to test the limits of her ire, starting wars with each other, enforcing different rules andws on their own people. It even escted to the point where the weakest country under the Empress'' rule dared to call itself an Empire.


    The Northern Tribes, on the other hand, were considered the most powerful of the four countries, because their magicians had the ability to channel magic of one or two kinds extremely well. They were also well liked by the other countries, due to their benevolence and peacefulness. They never invaded others without provocation, living their lives in peace and harmony, away from the mortal conflicts that happened around The Empire.


    It sounded a bit stuck up to Evin, but who was he to judge.


    As for his own country, he understood that it was a rather typical medieval kingdom. It had the king, the queen, some royal knights to protect the royalty and various other knights to protect the kingdom. It also had magicians too, and it waspulsive for young magicians to learn the ways of magic in one of the Kingdom''s Mage Academies, with the Arcvallen Academy being the most prestigious. Evin learned a lot about this, since his father really, really liked talking about it. Mages were a rare resource, so every country wanted to keep their mages to themselves. They would obviously teach him most things he needed about magic, while the kingdom''s officials would be trying to instill loyalty and patriotism in the students during their studies.


    Most likely they would teach the students enough to let the young mages know exactly how much they knew and didn''t know. After that, the mage graduates could find their elders who were closely associated with the Kingdom and work as their assistants, or they could work in the military and find benefits and resources that way.


    Evin''s father talked about all of these things, since the man was positive that Evin would be someone important in the future. Out of excitement, he would go out of his way to talk about such difficult topics to a 2-month-old child.


    It was a very shallow knowledge of the geopolitical situation of the world, and Evin really wished he could learn much more, but reality was that he lived in a home ofmoners who couldn''t really know much about the world other than the various stories that peddlers brought every few months (which may or may not even be true). Not to mention the fact that he couldn''t ask them anything for rification.


    But he couldn''t really focus on such things as he faced two major problems currently.


    One of them was his magic studies, and he still hadn''t learned how to use that god forsaken stone. It might have been his imagination, but it seemed like that it got even brighter every time he tried to make it work. His parents called it a lodestone, and from what he could gather, it was an item that mages used to work magic. How? Who knows?


    He could only forget about the matter and hope he will find a way in the future.


    But the more important problem was the state of his family.


    Most would consider his household poor among the many other town popce, but since Evin was the only child that currently lived in the house, it honestly wasn''t that bad... In normal circumstances at least. They even had a ve named Elina in their house.


    Evin didn''t really know much about her, and he couldn''t really find out anything new about her as well.


    Apparently, Evin also had a sister named Sasha, whom which his grandfather, Ssatsko, took to the Northern Tribes to learn the way of the hunters and receive the blessing of the Ivari founder, so she would be gone for quite a while. His mother mentioned something about a tradition of the Northerners to receive the blessings of the Ivari founder, St, when a child reached the age of 7.


    Evin''s father, Theor, worked as a cook at an inn and his mother made some handmade products and sold them at the said inn. She baked bread, weaved clothes, made trinkets and various other misceneous items. She gave them all to Theor and off he went to work.


    Buttely, Evin could notice the food on the table was getting increasingly scarce every day. Every night his father woulde home, drained and drowsy, two dark circles under his eyes. Lora did her best to help him out to reduce the burden that her husband was facing. She neverined about their situation and never tried to argue with him as well.


    Evin thought that it was not the first time that the two faced poverty, judging from how calm and collected the two were acting. The child badly wanted to know what was happening to them, but obviously he could not ask them. But one night, Theor came home drunk and started wailing about the unfair situation they were in.


    "That fucking 2nd grade bastard, I swear to the Empress, when Evin bes a mage in the future, I''ll show you how to oppress the people under you!" he shouted, the smell of alcohol oozing out of his mouth.


    Lora hurriedly put Evin in a different room and closed the door behind her, so the boy couldn''t hear his father''s shouts, but Evin could easily reach the door from the bed and open it once more.


    He silently went back to the bed, so no one would catch him eavesdropping behind the door.


    "Just as Aran leaves, he suddenly grows balls and startsining about everything I do! Thought he changed, judging by how differently he was acting, but when I told my coworkers that Evin was going to be a mage in the future, the bastard started questioning me like he couldn''t believe it. The fucking panic in his voice was so fucking apparent, I''m sure he''s decided to starve us to death, before our family bes a grade higher than his," Theor was surprisingly literate when he was drunk.


    He didn''t slur his words, nor did he stammer randomly.


    "Everything will be fine. If we only wait out a few months, Aran woulde back and Norna wouldn''t dare to mess with you. We still have some of our savings stashed up, so things aren''t that bad. And after that, my father wille with Sasha, and we won''t have to worry about food anymore," Lora reassured her husband.


    "We won''t be able to survive until then, the inn owner forces me to work the whole day and pays me only scraps, I could see him hiding the things you made under the counter, so that no one would buy them. No one will bother buying them from us directly, since we''re 3rd grade citizens. We''ll starve before then and don''t get me started about how we''re going to survive winter," Theor snarled.


    "Don''t worry, when worstes to worst, we can depend on Liza. She knows that Evin would be a mage in the future, so she won''t mind helping us out for some time. I''m sure Aran wouldn''t mind it that much as well," Lora said.


    "I don''t want to depend on Aran!" Theorshed out suddenly. His inner jealousy seemed to re up slightly when Lora mentioned Aran the second time.


    "Of course, of course" Lora''s voice became silent as she tried to make her husband go to sleep.


    Evin, who was listening to everything, finally learned of what his family was facing.

 Chapter 6: Social levels

    Chapter 6: Social levels


    ''Citizens in this country are apparently divided into grades, and our family is receiving oppression from above, since the inn owner that Theor works for seems to have some personal hatred for my family,'' Evin concluded.


    Evin could probably solve most of the family''s financial problems, if he somehow convinced his parents to listen to him But he didn''t know how things worked here, not to mention the fact of how his parents would react to having their two-month-old baby making decisions for the family.


    But the amount of food that reduced every day was forcing Evin to consider the matter seriously. Less food meant worse health. Ask any historian about one-year-old children''s death rates in medieval times and you would hear a horrifying number of one in four.


    Evin didn''t wish to gamble his life on a 75 percent chance, not to mention the fact that there was someone out there actively trying to starve him to death.


    He didn''t wish to do this, but he decided that he needed to get more information as soon as possible.


    The day after, Evin began to actively start babbling more. Although he wished to ask his parents about the things he wished to know about, he still had to do things moderately. And over the next few weeks, Evin begun talking, albeit in a slightly broken way.


    Lora was overjoyed at her boy''s genius, constantly showering him with attention and praise. Theor was also quite happy, as well, making sure to talk to Evin as much as possible even though he seemed extremely tired. But Evin was a bit surprised to see them reacting to the situation rather tamely. Back on Earth, a child who could almost speak at his age was almost unbelievable. Perhaps it had something to do with him being a mage?


    In any case, sfter some time passed, Evin decided to tackle the crux of the problem.


    "Hungry, ma," he said in a small voice after his mother breastfed him.


    "We''ll have some more in the evening, don''t worry, ok?" Lora replied with a smile as she put the boy on the bed.


    "But hungry, I''m telling da" Evin said again.


    "Shush, child, don''t be unreasonable. Your father''s working out there, trying to feed us, we can''t worry him like that," Lora replied.


    "Why?"


    The familiar question was thrown at her again and Lora noticed she was developing an acute hatred for the ursed word. Evin would question everything and anything, and Lora was getting tired of making up a nice and clean excuse for everything.


    "Well, your da''s employer is a very bad man, who makes your father work a lot, but doesn''t give him enough food," Lora said absentmindedly.


    "What employer?" Evin asked, his eyes beaming with happiness. Finally, the conversation turned to what he wanted.


    "An employer is someone who has a lot of people working under him, called employees. The employer pays his workers coins so they will continue working for him," Lora exined.


    "Why can''t da employer?" Evin asked, pondering.


    "Because he''s a 3rd grade citizen" Lora grumbled under her breath, but how could Evin not notice the golden opportunity that his mother threw at him.


    "What 3rd grade citizen?" Evin asked in a curious tone. Lora, knowing that she fucked up, tried to divert the topic to something else.


    "Evin, do you still have that lodestone you carry around, why don''t you tell me more about that? I don''t really see anything special about it, but you say that it shines brightly and pulses as well. I''m really curious about it, can you tell your mama more?" Lora asked in a cutesy voice.


    "Ma, what''s 3rd grade citizen?" Evin asked again, not even caring that he wasn''t talking in forced baby lingo anymore. Lora tried to divert the topic many times afterwards, but Evin did not wish to let the matter go.


    "Ugh, I know that mages are smart from birth, but I''m pretty sure you''re one of those exalted Children of the Empress," Lora sighed.


    Another interesting word entered Evin''s ears.


    ''Children of the Empress?''


    "What''s Children of the Empress, ma?"


    Finding a chance of having to not exin the societal structures of the kingdom to a child, Lora hurriedly started talking about the Children.


    "They''re like really, really smart children who are almost smarter than most other adults. And because of that fact, people started calling them the Children of the Empress, since Final Empress is the almighty ruler of our World," Lora narrated.


    "Am I one?" Evin asked curiously. This could be the solution to the problem he was facing currently.


    "I sure think so, but there are a lot of rumors about them. I heard that some of them could even talk and cast magic from birth. Although I''ve never seen one myself," Lora said.


    Herst words forced Evin to think about the matter much deeper. If what Lora was saying was true, then Evin''s situation could quite possibly be amon urrence. These Children of the Empress were most likely reincarnators.


    ''But how can they know about thenguage and magic from their birth? Unless they''re originally from this world?'' Evin felt like he had discovered something huge.


    ''But if they''re truly reincarnated, then why don''t my parents know about the truth of the matter?'' Evin started thinking meticulously. Some dots started to connect in his head and he had cooked up a possible conjecture in his head.


    Evin guessed that only some people know about the truth of these Children of the Empress. Aran was definitely one of them, with how he acted with Evin. There was probably no way for him to be one hundred percent sure about it, but the mage undeniably harbored suspicions towards him.


    As for his parents not knowing about it, well, that could be chalked up to the difference of knowledge between educated people and simplemoners. Commoners didn''t need to know that those genius children that they were praising were just frauds and posers. They didn''t need to know about such knowledge, and the people in the know didn''t bother to tell them about it.


    With his newfound knowledge, Evin decided on a course of action and started implementing it. Over the next few days, he started to disy far more intelligence than before. He would''ve never done such a thing before, but now he had a proper excuse to do so. Soon, everyone in the house got used to his intellect.


    A weekter, Evin fixed all his speaking problems and started asking his mother all sorts of difficult questions. But stubbornness took over Lora for some reason and she refused to talk about any of the things that he asked about. Evin couldn''t know what the problem was, but perhaps she felt overwhelmed with her child''s sudden growth.


    So, Evin decided on a different approach. After making sure that his mother was gone, he trapped a young girl in one of the few rooms of the house and slowly closed the doors behind him. He crawled to the bed and motioned the girl to pick him up. The girlplied and picked the boy up to the bed.


    "Elina, what''s a 3rd grade citizen?"


    "It''s how the kingdom calls their citizens like your mother and father. I would be considered a 4th grade citizen, while your father''s employer would be a 2nd grade citizen," Elina began and exined the social structure of the kingdom.


    There were three social levels in the kingdom: Nobility, Magehood and Commonality. Nobles were divided into divided into six tiers: from Dukes to Barons, with Marquesses, Earls and Viscounts in between. The King stood atop them as royalty.


    Mages were also divided into six tiers: At the top of the helm stood a Mage King or a Mage Queen. This position could also be ovepped with the position of a King. The kingdom''ste king, Rowan Arcwall, and founding king, Judeus Arcwall, held both positions at the same time. But the current king Rnd Arcwall was a normal person with no talents in magic, so the position of the Mage King was held by another.


    Under the Mage King were High Mages. They were the arms, feet, eyes and ears of the Mage King. They were each responsible for various important matters rting to the kingdom''s mages. There was the war faction, responsible for training mages to be better used in wars; the research faction which was responsible for developing and creating new applications of magic; the infrastructural faction, responsible for making life easier in the kingdom with the help of magic and the educational faction, responsible for the training and education of new mages.


    Under them were Heavy Mages, Light Mages and Schr Mages. They were the ones that made up the general mage popce in the kingdom.


    Aside from the Schr Mages, who focused on magical research, Heavy Mages and Light Mages were mostly used for war.


    Heavy Mages specialized in building to huge spells tounch far beyond the capabilities of a Light Mage. Their powers shined during city sieges, when harassing enemy camps, or when ambushing enemy battalions on the move.


    ''Basically, magical heavy artillery,'' Evinmented when hearing about them.


    Light Mages, on the other hand, specialized more in closebat. Instead of the huge spells that Heavy Mages could cook up, they were more prone to create much smaller, but cost-effective and quick spells. They were also expected to be good at close quarterbat.


    And finally, were Specialist Mages, who did special things. Elina did not know anything more about them, sadly.


    But the topic that Evin needed to hear most about starteding out of Elina''s mouth. The distinction of themonality. Commoners didn''t have fancy names, like High Commoners or Specialist Commoners. They simply received grades from the kingdom, four of them to be exact.


    1st grade citizens were knights and distinguished members of society. The family of a mage was also elevated to this status automatically. But this couldn''t apply to Evin since he needed to graduate the academy for that, or he needed to have a lot of money to buy the title for his family.


    2nd grade citizens were people who either owned business properties, and soldiers. So merchants, cksmiths, inn owners and farmers would fall into this category.


    3rd grade citizens were people who worked under others. Peasants, workers, builders... service workers in general.


    4th grade citizen like Elina were ves or criminals.


    Evin asked about how Elina came to Theor''s house and the girl''s answer was that Evin''s grandfather, Ssatsko, found Elina in the forest nearby, shivering and starving, and took her into the house. Since she didn''t have anything to identify her, the citizenship bureau graded her as a ve.


    She also told Evin something interesting.


    "I''m afraid I''m the reason why your family receives this ill treatment," she said suddenly.


    "Why is that?" Evin asked


    "The inn owner, master Norna he wanted to have me as his bride," Elina said with a tinge of fear in her voice.


    "Wait, how old are you?" Evin asked, exasperated.


    "I''m not sure, my memories before I was found by master Ssatsko are very slight. But I''m sure that I''m either 13 or 14," Elina exined.


    "How old do people usually marry?"


    "15 to 20 is the norm for most, I might dare say," Elina said timidly.


    "So I suppose you refused, and now that inn owner is trying to find trouble with us now," Evin concluded.


    "I''m afraid so. I''m deeply sorry for causing this much trouble," the girl said, a slight shiver in her voice, clearly ufortable.


    Evin realized that there was something else she didn''t wish to talk about, so he didn''t press the matter. He was just d that the girl even bothered to entertain Evin''s questions.


    "No, no. Don''t worry about these things. Everything will be fine soon. But I need you to tell me, how can a 3rd grade citizen be a 2nd grade citizen?" Evin asked expectantly.


    "There is one way as far as I know. A 3rd grade citizen can take an examination in the citizenship bureau and if they are sessful, they will be considered a 2nd grade citizen, but they need to have something to sell, or else they will just continue living like a normal 3rd grade,"


    ''Lora makes a lot of cool things, and Theor could perhaps sell some baked goods. I could also think of some new "inventions" to sell,'' Evin thought inside.


    ''But we will need to take some great risks when attempting this. First of all, weck the necessary capital to do anything and if we fail, then the situation would be much worse than it is. Ugh, this is so frustrating,'' Evin hated being poor. Even if he had a hundred ideas that could help him with his situation they all required some amount of money to work.


    ''But that all depends on whether we can be a 2nd grade citizen in the first ce''


    "Could you tell me about the citizenship grade examination?"


    "I''m sorry, I don''t know much about the details, but I heard that one has to be at least literate to attempt it"


    "I suppose that''s true. Can you read and write, Elina?"


    "No, I''m sorry, but I think your mother knows how to, I''ve seen her preparing for the exam when master Ssatsko was around," Elina said, bringing Evin joy and happiness.


    "Thanks Elina, you don''t know how much you''ve helped me," Evin thanked the girl and started thinking about how to persuade his mother.

 Chapter 7: Citizenship upgrade

    Chapter 7: Citizenship upgrade


    In the evening, Lora came back to her house, spent and hungry. She found her son, silently sitting on her bed, eyes beaming with expectation.


    ''Ugh, fuck,'' she sighed inside her head, seeing the familiar glint in the newborn''s eyes. Making peace with her fate, she sat down on the bed and prepared herself for the ensuing barrage of questions.


    "Mom, I want to learn how to read and write," Evin said suddenly.


    Lora did not expect such a proposal. Although she was happy with her son''s desire to learn, she learned to stay wary with her child.


    "Why?"


    "So I can take the citizenship examination and help our family members bes 2nd grade citizens," Evin dered proudly.


    "Where did you learn those things?!" Lora shouted back.


    "I asked Elina, but please don''t be harsh on her, I was being unreasonable," Evin said cutely.


    "I swear to the Empress," Lora sighed in exasperation.


    "Mother, please, if we be 2nd grade citizens, we can sell the things you make at our house and father doesn''t have to stay with that unreasonable employer of his!"


    "And how do you think you''re going to take the test? Can you even hold a pen properly?"


    "I can do it after a few tries, I know it. Please trust me, mother. And even if I can''t, at least teach me how to read," Evin pleaded.


    "Fine, I will. Wait here," Lora said and brought out a stack of papers from somewhere. Evin could see a writing that could only be described as a collection of dots and lines. The asional circle could be seen somewhere in there as well.


    On the first page of the stack was a diagram showing what seemed to be the alphabet of thenguage.


    Evin despaired at the idea of learning to read and write in a newnguage. These things took time and effort, and Evin did not have such luxuries. Even now, his stomach growled in hunger. He was bing skinnier and skinnier by the days.


    Thankfully, the alphabet wasn''t hard to grasp. The writing was a system that represented the mix of consonants and vowels with two columns. The first column would represent the consonant, or itsck when a word started with a vowel and the second column represented the vowel. And luckily, the creators of thenguage did not cuck Evin by creating a bunch of exceptions or special rules for theirnguage.


    Evin just had to learn how to distinguish the two, and it took him only a week to fully grasp it. Lora was shocked at her son''s speed in learning. Sadly, Theor wasn''t staying in his house for the past few days due to his work and could not witness his son''s miracles.


    Lora exined that thenguage he was learning is the main form ofmunication in the kingdom, but Evin would have to someday learn Imperial, which was the universalnguage of the Empire. Most people were enforced to learn to at least speak in Imperial, as the Empress dictated.


    With his newfound literacy, Evin now had a chance of actually affecting the situation.


    "Mom, can I take a look at the sample of the citizenship test?" he asked her mother. He noticed that under the initial paper that had the alphabet were what seemed to be sample tests that the public could use to prepare for the examination.


    Lora was thoroughly impressed with her son''s achievements, so sheplied without question.


    Evin nced at the test from the beginning, but one thing immediately caught his attention.


    ''Why are the numbers in Arabic?!'' he eximed in his mind. Amidst the pile of dots, lines and circles, stood familiar symbols that everyone on Earth would recognize with a nce.


    ''What in fucking hell are you guys doing here?'' Evin panicked inside his head. Trying to calm his raging thoughts, he asked his mother.


    "What do these symbols mean, mom?"


    "Oh, they''re numbers. You know how we sometimes count things, right? Those things are used to express them in writing," Lora exined smilingly.


    "Mom, do you know who created these alphabets and words?" Evin decided to ask, just in case.


    "Who knows? Perhaps the Empress bestowed them upon us? Or maybe a schr from somewhere sat down and decided to create a way to express ourselves in writing," Lora answered absentmindedly, but Evin felt like that there was truth to her words.


    ''It might as well be the Empress,'' he thought, and let the matter go for the time being. It was a good thing that he didn''t have to learn another set of numbers.


    ncing through the problems on the test, Evin saw that they mostly revolved around math. And the difficulty could bepared to what 4th grade children learn on modern Earth, mostly focusing on counting money and calcting taxes. The essentials of a family who worked a business.


    Evin guessed that mostmoners would not have a problem with additions and subtractions, but they would find have some trouble with the more difficult multiplications, divisions and calctions of percentages without the methods that kids on Earth were taught to.


    But the biggest problem that he noticed was that there was nowhere in the stack of papers a section that showed a way to solve these problems in the first ce. It was just a collection of various test questions with a list of answers on the back.


    ''Perhaps a way that the kingdom devised to keep a proper poption control. If the number of 3rd grade citizen would lessen and most became 2nd grades, the superiority that 2nd grades feel would diminish,'' Evin guessed.


    His suspicions became stronger by the other, non-math rted questions in the test. History and proper social conduct. The former was just pure propaganda, and thetter was merely an instruction manual telling 3rd and 2nd grade citizens to obey Mages and Nobles without question. It wasn''t mandatory to obey 1st grade citizens, but it wouldn''t hurt to make it a practice.


    Evin cleared his head of the matter and decided to focus on his main goal.


    "Mom, these are so easy, why can''t we be 2nd grade citizens already? I can answer all of these questions without fail," Evin dered, cocking his head, and making a confused expression.


    "What do you mean?" Lora asked, thinking that the boy misunderstood something.


    "I can solve all these questions easily. I checked my answers with the ones in the back and my answers were all correct," Evin said smugly, puffin out his chest.


    She would usually brush it off if it was another child, but since it was Evin, she thought, or should one say, hoped that he might actually solve the problems.


    "Show me how you did this," Lora asked impatiently, while pointing at a multiplication problem with three digits.


    She could do simple multiplications involving two digits in her head, but she just couldn''t wrap her head around numbers with three digits.


    Evin asked her mother to go outside, so he can better exin the things. Alongside a stack of papers held by a rock, Evin sat and instructed Lora to write as he asked. Lora was holding a stick in her hands and using it to draw on the ground. They did not have something so lucrative like ink, so they could only use the dirt ridden ground as their canvas.


    A few hourster, Lora was thoroughly amazed at the marvels of her child. The problems that she had so much trouble with could be solved so easily with the right methods. For the ensuing few days, she spent all her time outside training her newfound skills to her limits. Evin sat next to her, making up problems for her to solve. She stopped making trinkets and essories for Theor''s inn, since the owner did not wish to help her sell them in the first ce.


    Lora wasn''t dull in the head, she simplycked the proper knowledge to solve problems and she did not have the time to develop her own foolproof method to solve mathematical problems. Evin gave her that knowledge, so she was very confident in passing the examinations now.


    A few dayster, Lora came home from the citizenship bureau, her face beaming with happiness. She held a beautifully decorated piece of paper in her hands, a proper documentation that showed their family''s new standing in society.


    She hugged Evin, who was waiting in the house alone, while Elina was gone, went to fetch Theor.


    Suddenly, the door burst open, with Theor shouting in a panicked voice. The man had be haggard and weak due to the intense work he was forced to do. The fat on his cheeks had all but disappeared, leaving behind two sagging lumps of skin.


    "Evin, where are you?! Are you okay?!"


    "I''m fine, dad," Evin answered with a smile. He held out his hands, so his father could pick him up. He usually did not like being picked up like this, but today was an exception. Clinging to his pride would only serve to ruin such a happy asion.


    "Elina told me that you suddenly got sick, and since Lora went to the bureau for something, she could onlye to me, since I was closer," Theor said, while panting. He then red at Elina, since thetter had apparently lied to him.


    "Don''t get mad at Elina, we asked her to lie, so you wouldn''t hesitate toe over for nothing," Lora exined.


    "What? Why? You know Norna''s going to give me hell for this," Theor asked, confused this time.


    "You don''t have to worry about those things anymore, love. You don''t have to stay at that inn, working for nothing every day. Look here. What do you think this is?" Lora said and handed the citizenship documents to Theor.


    "What''s this?" Theor asked, but after reading through the document with some difficulty, his faced turned from confusion to disbelief.


    "I went to the citizenship bureau and took the test. We can sell our own things at our own house and you won''t have to work at that dreaded ce anymore," Lora said as she hugged her tired husband.


    The family had a big feast for dinner, as Lora and Elina talked about Evin''s genius. Evin felt like a cheat during most of it, but swore that he would someday tell them the truth.


    He then wondered if he decided to expose himself for his own needs, or if he wanted to help out his new family, when they were in a pinch. On one hand, he was about to starve to death and on the other hand, his family was in a pinch as well.


    Evin decided that the question had no correct answer and threw the matter out of his head. Instead of pondering about difficult matters, he should focus on enjoying this rare atmosphere.


    The next morning, Theor left for the inn, not to continue his work and grovel for his paycheck, but to take back his belongings and leave.


    When he entered the building, a familiar voice resounded from inside the hall.


    "Hey, Theo! How''s your kid? Seemed like real trouble yesterday," Norna asked smilingly, unable to hide the glee at the possibility of the young mage''s death.


    Norna was a huge man. His thighs used to be as big as Theor''s waist, but now it was bigger, since Theor had thinned considerably. If he wore ck fur and wandered around a forest, there would definitely be some people would mistake him for a bear and instinctively try to shoot him down, or so Theor hoped.


    A dangerous and gritty feeling surrounded the man. Arge scar ran across his left hand, and every time he moved it, it seemed to pulse out signals of pain through his brain, as one could see the random flinches that would take hold of the man''s eyes.


    "I''m sorry for yesterday, Norna, Evin got a bit sick in his lungs, so I had to hurry back home," Theor said apologetically.


    "Is he fine, though?" Norna was only interested in one thing.


    "He is, thank the Empress But I''m afraid I will have to leave this job for a while, you must understand. Lora and Elina aren''t doing so well either," Theor lied as Evin told him to. There was no need to brag about the fact that he became a 2nd grade citizen. Staying low was preferable for the family''s current situation.


    Hearing Elina''s name, Norna''s face seemed to contort slightly. He subconsciously caressed the scar on his left arm.


    ''His family''s starving, but he would rather stay with them instead of working? Perhaps it''s some sort ofplicated suicide ritual,'' Norna thought before answering.


    "Is that so? Then I won''t hold you here"


    "About that, Norna, you still haven''t paid my wage forst week. Please, you must understand that I desperately need them for the following few months," Theor asked.


    Norna heard the plea, and a smirk appeared on his face.


    ''Perhaps watching him struggle with that tiny amount of money would be amusing as well,'' he thought gleefully.


    "Sure, anything for our best cook. You will be missed here," Norna said and pulled out a bag filled with coins from under the counter. He held the bag in his hand and beckoned Theor toe closer.


    Theor grabbed the bag and counted the coins inside.


    ''15 silvers Fucking cheapskate,'' he thought with hatred.


    "You don''t mind if I take Lora''s stuff, would you? They don''t seem to sell that well, in the first ce"


    "Sure," Norna said reluctantly. In truth, they sold well, and he wanted to keep them in his shop but he decided to be a bit more generous today. He thought that it might be thest day Theor would feel some generosity from others.


    Theor silently collected his wife''s creations from the inn and walked towards the door with a huge sack over his shoulders.


    "You''re always wee here!" Norna''s jeering voice sounded from behind him.


    ''We''ll see how you and your little mage will survive this winter,'' Norna thought as he idly caressed his scar.

 Chapter 8: The bakery and the visit

    Chapter 8: The bakery and the visit


    The following few weeks, Evin''s family spent most of their time remodeling their house to look more like a shop. Although their house was quite empty, it was built recently, so it did not look so old and battered.


    The family decided to turn one of the rooms into a shop front, and Theor was working on building some furniture and disy stands. Lora and Elina were helping around with Theor, while working on creating the trinkets and essories for the shop. They were mostly items made by knitting wool over metal wires. They also worked on a cloth banner for the shop, for a little marketing venture.


    Evin did not have anything to do, so he started thinking of simple and easy things that he could replicate from Earth. Tools and weapons did not seem usible to make for the time being, so he was thinking of replicating food recipes. The business that the family wished to take on was a bakery after all.


    First in his list were cookies and cake, then came bread. This lineup was pretty good for a new bakery, so Evin nned to focus on it. He couldn''t create modern cake, since the technology was impossible, but he could create fruit cakes, which were basically bread filled with various fruit pieces. Although the family could not afford to buy sugar in excess, the surrounding area was rich with berries, so that was what they opted to use in the end.


    Evin was a bit confused, as there were some berries and fruits that he never saw back on Earth and was a bit overwhelmed, but thankfully,Theor and Lora being very experienced in baking and cooking in general helped a lot with Evin''s ideas. Evin only had to pitch the idea, and the two would implement them in the best way possible.


    Lora and Theor also said that the things they made were the most delicious pieces of food they ever tasted, so Evin was quite optimistic about the future of their small business.


    A month after Evin''s family became 2nd grade citizens, they opened their bakery to the public. The location of their house was slightly bad, when one considered the whole city, but it was good enough for the local neighborhood.


    The first impressions were the most important, so the family decided to sell at half price for the first day. It was hard to not notice the colorful banner that said "BAKERY" and had a little icon of a steaming bread. Next to it was another smaller banner that said "Half-price for today".


    The bakery''s first customer was Liza, holding little Arza in her arms. The little red-haired devil was giggling loudly as his mother entertained him. Her clothing that was only reserved for 1st grade citizens were quite eye-catching, so Evin was thinking that it was really great of her toe today.


    Evin asked her to sit outside on a chair and table, so she could attract people''s attention. Although it was a bit chilly outside, it wasn''t a big deal for most. Soon after, an elderlydy came close to the house with an inquiring look.


    "Is that you, Liza? Been a while since I''ve seen around these parts," she said, while waddling slowly.


    "Elder Nana? How long has it been?" Liza stood up and hugged the olddy.


    "What are you doing here? Isn''t this Theor''s house? Why does it say bakery on top of it?" the olddy bombarded her with questions.


    Liza exined the situation briefly and urged her to try out the fruitcake. The olddy bought one slice to try out.


    "This tastes well, but you should know that even with a 1st grade citizen supporting it, they officials would not take this matter lightly, you know? There''s a reason a 3rd grade citizen doesn''t get any customers, it because the officials influence things in the background" Elder Nana said in a hush.


    Liza chuckled when she heard her elder and answered smilingly.


    "Elder Nana, Lora and her family became a 2nd grade citizen weeks ago. Theor even quit his job, to help out with this new idea"


    "Truly? Oh, that wittyss! I never got the hang of those numbers and multiplications, my rotting brain simply couldn''tprehend them. I suppose the young still have some juice in their heads," Elder Nana said with a smile and a hint of resignation in her eyes. Then, thinking about the matter a bit more, she added.


    "Wait, why did these two sted fools tell no one, then? Who are they trying to surprise, wait here, I''ll go tell some of the others. Lowborn people like us need to look out for each other," the olddy dered and waddled away.


    Two hourster a line had appeared outside the shop and the new bakers were having trouble meeting with the new demand.


    ''That olddy''sworking abilities are quite impressive,'' Evin thought as he spectated from one of the seats.


    Long story short, the bakery did great, since it was the only one in the area. Lora''s trinkets also sold well. They were quite cheap, and given their nice aesthetics, it was a popr item in the area.


    Half a year passed since then, and Evin finally had the leisure to grow up without experiencing constant hunger and feebleness.


    He now patiently awaited Aran''s arrival, so he could get his mage studies started. He tried looking for books on mage studies, but found that no bookstore sold anything rting to magic, anywhere in the city. He once tried approaching the Mage Association building in the town with Lora, but was refused at the gates.


    He then tried asking Liza, but thetter exined that information about magic was strictly confined due to the efforts of the crown. She even said that even Aran wasn''t allowed to divulge any information to his wife, as the consequences would be dire. Apparently, rogue mages became a big problem at some point in the Empire''s history, so there was a simr situation in most of the countries.


    Evin could only give up for the time being and focus on other things. He decided to learn Imperial in his spare time as it was like the Englishnguage for this world. Unlike the Kingdom''snguage of dots and lines, this one had proper letters and everything, so it took Evin a bit longer to grasp with the added cacophony of useless grammar and lexicon.


    The dot likenguage was much easier to grasp since Evin already knew the words and there weren''t any confusing rules in it. The downside of thatnguage was that it took way much time to write, as every dot and line had to be separately inputted.


    But trouble came to find Evin''s family as a gigantic man came inside the family bakery one day. The man struggled to fit through the small household''s doorway and seemed to grumble about the small size under his breath.


    Looking at the man''s stature, Evin could not help but feel intimidated.


    "Norna?" Theor asked incredulously.


    Evin felt that he heard the name somewhere and realized that it was the inn owner that tried to marry Elina.


    "Hey, Theor, thought I''d drop by to check whether you were fine or not, but didn''t expect to see you running a bakery! You sure the citizenship officials won''t find trouble with you all?" Norna said in his loud voice, not even bothering to hide his disdain.


    "Oh, after I''ve left the job, we decided to take on the citizenship exam. Luckily, Lora managed to pass, and that gave us the confidence to start a business. We''re thriving, I tell you. I would''ve told you about it, but the customers kept me busy all this time, sorry about that, eh?" Theor replied with a smile. He didn''t need to grovel before this man in front of him anymore, as they were equals now.


    "Is that so? How lucky. Oh, is that the mage kid that you were talking about?" Norna saw Evin and started walking towards the baby on a chair, surrounded by a stack of papers.


    "How are you understanding those things, little guy? Want me to teach you some of them?" Norna asked and tried to lift Evin up. Evin tried to protest, but the man was too quick for him to say anything. His huge hands were almost as big as Evin''s whole body, a single crunch from the man would surely kill Evin. Evin felt extremely vulnerable in such a state, so he started wailing for his father toe pick him up.


    No one else other than Evin''s family knew that he could talk, and he wanted it to keep it that way.


    "Let me hold him, he doesn''t like stranger that much," Theor said and went to Norna.


    But something unexpected happened before Evin was delivered to safety. Norna tried to walk towards Theor, but he stumbled on nothing and threw Evin off in the process.


    ''What the fuck is wrong with this man?'' Evin''s thoughts raced as his hands went towards his head in an attempt to protect it. Theor rushed in to save the boy, but he was simply too far away from Evin.


    As Evin braced himself for the hard-wooden floor, he instead fell into the soft embrace of someone. Looking at the owner of those arms, Evin sighed in relief inside his head.


    ''Elina, I love you''


    Elina had hidden out of sight, when she first noticed the towering man approach the house. But she felt something amiss with the way Norna looked at Evin when he was holding him. Something dangerous. She rushed to Evin''s side and managed to save the boy from an injury.


    "What the fuck is wrong with you?!" Theor raged at Norna the very next second.


    "Chill out, friend, I just stumbled on something. Besides, Elina saved the boy, so everything''s fine in the end," Norna replied nonchntly as he stared at Elina with a cold gaze.


    Being looked at by the man, Elina''s knees shuddered with fear. Evin could feel the girl''s hands beginning to sweat almost instantly, as she tried to look away.


    ''There''s definitely something more that happened between them. Or else she wouldn''t react so strongly,'' Evin thought when he noticed the state that Elina was in.


    "Get out of my shop! And don''te back, you fucking dog!" shouted Theor.


    "What the fuck did you say to me?! I dare you to say that again, you little bitch!" his former cook talking back to him seemed to irk the man, as he shouted a threat in response.


    "We''re equals now, Norna, you don''t have the right to threaten me," Theor replied coldly.


    Norna''s eyes thinned into slits, and he silently walked towards the door. He muttered something under his breath and mmed the door behind him.


    "What is up with that guy?" Evin asked after Norna left. He got up to his feet and checked on Elina''s condition. Elina''s shaking seemed to die out, but her back was soaked in cold sweat and she was having trouble breathing.


    "That''s my former boss, don''t worry, he won''te to find trouble with us again," Theor said and helped Elina up to her feet.


    Evin was fine, albeit a bit shocked, so he told his father didn''t really need any help. Theor was relieved that Evin was fine, but Elina wasn''t doing that well, so he helped the girl walk to the girls'' room.


    Left behind alone, Evin cursed himself for his weakness.


    ''It sucks to be a fucking toddler. I wish I could grow up already, or at least I should learn how to use magic so I can fight back against these sub-humans,'' Evin thought with a shudder. He truly felt powerless inside the palm of the man. Calming himself down, he started thinking about the situation.


    ''Something tells me that this won''t be thest of this Even if I''m wrong, it doesn''t hurt to be prepared,'' he decided and started thinking of what to do next.


    He talked to Lora and Theor and convinced them to carry their most important belongings to Liza''s house, just in case. It was mostly cash and documents, so it wasn''t that difficult of a task.

 Chapter 9: Problems escalation

    Chapter 9: Problem''s esction


    A week passed since then and Evin was lying on his bed, thinking that maybe he overreacted a bit too much.


    ''Surely, someone wouldn''t decided to take matters to the next level for a few words? I must''ve overreacted,''


    He was half-awake and half dozing off, but a loud m jolted him awake.


    Then came a series of loud footsteps and smashing sounds from the bakery, followed by Theor''s shouts. Evin then heard Theor''s grunt and a loud thud after what seemed to be a punching sound. Lora screamed at the top of her lung for help outside the house and the group of people started running away.


    Evin walked towards the window to maybe catch a glimpse of the intruders. He looked around, and could see a group of men in ck clothing, scurrying into the darkness of the streets. But a familiar silhouette caught his attention, one which looked very simr to Norna.


    Only after they left, Evin''s shaking heart calmed down.


    Evin cursed at his weakness again and toddled out of his room. He then saw all the shelfs and furniture of the shop destroyed and broken. Lora was tending to the groaning Theor, wiping off his bloodied nose with something damp clothing.


    Elina came out of her room soon after and started helping. Soon, one of Evin''s neighbors came with a wooden nk in his hands, curiously eyeing from outside the broken down door.


    The women in the family spent the rest of the night cleaning up the bakery. Theor had to tend to his nose, and Evin could not be useful, so the male members of the family could only watch in silence.


    Evin saw much worse happening back on Earth, but he still could not stay calm after the same thing happened to himself. He clutched at the shining lodestone in his grasp, cursing at his uselessness.


    The next day, Theor and Lora went to the guards toin about thest night''s urrence. Forced intrusion into the house of a 2nd grade citizen was a serious crime, which would usually garner not a small amount of attention from the town management.


    But the attitude that Theor received was of indifference and scorn. Theor felt that the guards recognized him when he went inside the post, but Theor had no memory of ever seeing the man. The guard''s eyes darted around the room and the things he were saying seemed rehearsed. Like the man was told to not give any attention to whatever Theor said.


    Met with a stone wall, Theor tried going to other guard posts. Shockingly, every post showed him a simr attitude.


    ''Did he bribe the guards? How much money did that bastard spent on bribes? How is it even possible to bribe every outpost? What kind of useless town management is this?'' Theor thought inside his head.


    Helplessly, Theor walked home and exined the situation to the family.


    The family gathered and decided on the next course of action. Evin and the women decided to go to Liza''s house and stay for a while there, since things were bing a bit too dangerous. Theor would stay at home and look after their household.


    Two hourster, Evin and the two women appeared in front of a luxurious-looking house. The neighborhood was clean and orderly, with stone tiles covering the roads, instead of just a dirt filled excuse of a road that Evin''s old neighborhood possessed. It was the first time Evin''s family came here, since 3rd grade citizens weren''t allowed in the living area of 1st grade citizens.


    Lora knocked on the door and a sweet voice sounded from behind the doors.


    "Coming!" Liza shouted.


    A few secondster, the door opened, and she saw the familiar faces standing ufortably outside their door. The nd colored clothes made of simple wool the three wore looked quite oundish in this colorful and luxurious area, but even if a 2nd grade citizen had money, they couldn''t buy certain items that were made specifically for 1st grade citizens.


    But noticing their distressed looks, Liza guessed that something must have happened to them. She hurried them inside.


    "Come in!"


    The three went inside and Evin saw a house that could almost bepared to a modern-day apartment. First thing he noticed was that the inside of the house was warmer than the outside, but he couldn''t hear the crackling of fire, or any smell of something burning, which meant that this house was heated in one way or another. One more thing he noticed were the light sources on the ceilings and walls that looked like electricmps.


    Liza started questioning them about what happened from Lora, while Evin was left inside Arza''s room, tasked with taking care of Arza. As he waited Evin started pondering about how these people could replicate modern appliances. He nced at the different objects that exuded a magical feel to it, and noticed that they all had various etchings on top of them.


    ''Are these runes, or something?'' Evin observed everything with interest. This was the first time he met magical objects aftering to this World, after all. There were many magical objects inside the room and Evin didn''t know what most of them did, but he could kind of make guesses here and there. For example, the pipes with crimson red runes that ran near the corners of the house were most likely the heaters in the house.


    Evin didn''t know what the item with eyes and ears drawn on them did, but he supposed that it was a sentry device of some sorts.


    And looking more closely at the glowing lights, Evin could see that they looked more like a solid metal of some sorts, instead of ss bubbles that held electricity.


    Two hours passed, and Evin was starting to feel left out and annoyed. He could hear Lora and Liza talking about something in the other room, but it didn''t sound like it was going to end soon. The other thing was Arza.


    Aran''s boy was a surprisingly violent child. After checking out Evin for a few moments, he started testing the neer. He tried lightly grabbing, punching, head-butting Evin with a giggle. Thetter simply ignored these attempts at first, thinking that the boy would get bored of it soon enough, but boy was he wrong.


    Arza, who seemingly decided that Evin was an easy target, started to extensively bully him. His arm swings became faster and he would clutch at Evin''s hair and start pulling it. It took Evin''s every effort to keep the boy in check.


    Arza was for some reason much stronger than Evin, while being much faster as well. Evin thought that him being able to walk on two legs while being only less than a year old was a miracle achievement, but Arza showed him how weak he was, since the boy could practically run at this point.


    Evin could only use his 300 hundred years of wisdom to keep the boy at a hand''s distance. As he struggled with the violent toddler, Liza finally came to his rescue.


    "Come here, Evin, Aran wants to talk with you," she said.


    Liza knew that Evin was much smarter than he appeared, since Lora told her about it a lot of times.


    Evin followed behind her, sighing with relief, and Liza lead him to a room filled with books and unfinished devices.


    "This is Aran''s study. Go sit on that armchair and press the button on this box, I won''t disturb your talk. After you''re finished, you can knock on the door to let me know. Don''t worry, no one will be able to hear what you say in that room," she said and gave Evin a metal box carved with various symbols.


    ''Is this amunication device of some sorts? Magic is so cool,'' Evin thought with curiousity.


    He sat on the couch and pressed the button as she instructed. The device hummed a bit and started glowing in a mix of silver and gold. Then, a blurry image of Aran appeared on top of it.


    "Hey, how are you doing?" the mage''s voice sounded from the box.


    Aran had changed a lot from what Evin could remember. He used to look like a delicate schr, always thinking about something or another every chance he got. Every time he wasn''t speaking, he would be making a serious face, staring at nk space.


    Now he looked more gritty, manly, and sharp. He gained some muscle while he was away, and there were some small scars scattered under his left sleeve. Evin found them simr to the ones that were made by shrapnel weapons back on Earth. Evin cringed just by thinking of how much it would have hurt.


    "Hello, mister Aran. I''d like to say I''m doing fine, but things could be better, I suppose," Evin replied politely.


    "Yeah, heard about your problems. I was just about to finish up here and go back and get you started on your magical journey but I suppose I need to hurry on about that now, eh?" the man said in with a grin on his face.


    "You mean to teach me about magic?" Evin involuntarily smiled.


    "I actually nned to take you on as my disciple after Arza became old enough to study with you. Children of the Empress are nice to have as friends, after all," Aran smiled.


    Evin, hearing the familiar term, tensed up slightly. Noticing the boy''s reaction, Aran hurriedly added.


    "Look, I don''t know where you came from, or what you did in your past life. But I can assure you that I don''t care not one bit about it. You''re good to your new family from what I heard, and that''s good enough for me," Aran said amiably.


    Of course, Aran would not tell Evin about how he was nning to kill him for a brief moment, since he suspected that Evin was a dangerous criminal, or the sentry device he put on Evin''s house.


    Through that, he was able to double-confirm that the "recement" in the child was a normal person before. Most likely from a foreign country, considering the fact that Evin seemed to spend a couple months learning the nativenguage here.


    If Evin was actually going for the long-con: pretending to be an ignorant newborn, while also pretending to know nothing about magic, spending all that time staring intently at a lodestone, just because he was paranoid of getting found out, Aran could only admit defeat in front of such a persistent foe.


    But he was still quite confused for a long time, since Evin really did not seem to know anything about the World, always asking for more and more info. He figured that the "recement" was most likely a child before inhabiting Evin''s body. Obviously, Aran would not think that the Evin came from apletely different World.


    Thus, he had dropped all his vignce towards the child, deciding to groom this potential talent from a young age, instead of vigntly keeping him under surveince.


    Evin, of course, knew nothing about this fact and was simply thrilled.


    "Well, let''s get started. Chant after me, and don''t stop holding that box, alright?" Aran said and took out a lodestone. Holding it, he chanted a sentence.


    " ''I beseech Authority Veidrakar to lend me her powers'' "


    ''What? He didn''t use a lodestone, and he used a chant. That''spletely different from what he did previously. Are you serious? What the hell was I doing for the past half a year?'' Evin grumbled.


    Aran turned very slightly grey in Evin''s eyes, like he was being filled with smoke. The child believed that thest time he used magic; it also took about a couple seconds for him to turn greenish after the light in the stone dimmed.


    Evin memorized everything about the process as fast as he could and followed the chant.


    " ''I beseech Authority Veidrakar to lend me her powers'' "


    Almost immediately, the World around him turnedpletely silent. The small natural noises that the device made was all but gone. Another thing that he noticed was that his mind was working much faster than normal here. Everything in his head seemed clearer and sharper.


    He looked around himself and found that the room he was in was the same, but he could see people from behind walls, but they all looked blurred and weird. His mother, who was looking at the door that Evin went into looked just like a very familiar silhouette. Elina and Liza were also in a simr state.


    They also seemed like they were stuck in time, staying still like statues.


    Evin looked around in wonder, and after a few seconds, Aran materialized in front of him from inside the box, like some kind of genie.

 Chapter 10: Magical Worlds

    Chapter 10: Magical Worlds


    "How did you appear here?" Evin asked incredulously.


    "I''m afraid I can''t exin that to you as of now. But now, we don''t have to worry about running out of time. The box takes a tad too much energy if you use it normally, but now we''ll have all the time we need to teach you magic," Aran said happily.


    "What do you mean?" Evin asked. He didn''t know how entering this area would be connected to saving time.


    "You''re in the World of Thoughts. You feel that time is passing like normal here, but time passes many times fasterpared to the Main World. We can talk for hours on end but only a few minutes would pass in the actual world"


    ''Minute? What''s that?'' Evin was confused, because Aran said the word exactly like one would say it in English. Even though thenguage was different, suddenly hearing an English word sparked his curiosity.


    Evin heard his parents talk about time, but it was mostly in vague terms like half a day, before noon and afternoon, midnight, etc.


    "What''s a minute?"


    "Ah, it''s what we use to measure time. One, two, three, four, five. Every time I said a number, a second passed. If I do this 60 more times, a minute would pass. And if 60 minutes pass, an hour would pass. There are a little more than 26 hours in a single day,"


    Evin found that it was exactly the same as Earth, except here they had 26 hours a day. Then what about months and days?


    "How many days are in a month?" Evin also never heard his parents mention months, since they usually talk measure time with seasons.


    "Exactly 40 days in a month and there''s 10 months in a year. It''s the 1275th year, by the way"


    "Who keeps count? And who created that second, minute system?"


    "Perhaps the Empress. Who knows? It''s what everyone uses. People don''t really worry about such things," replied Aran nonchntly.


    ''This means that the Empress definitely knows about Earth, with the Arabic numbers and everything... Actually, It''s not too surprising. Everyone says that the Empress is basically god almighty, so it wouldn''t be too surprising if she knows about others. That woman back on Earth knew the name of this, too,'' Evin thought.


    But more importantly, Evin was afraid that this was a form of inteary giarism. Or is it interdimensional?


    Wasn''t he himself technically inter-dimensionally smuggled into Alvox? But the woman said nothing about staying low. She even told the spirit to go and be immortal somehow, or else. Isn''t that the opposite of staying low?


    ''Perhaps the Empress knows about me already'' Evin guessed and started thinking about the new revtion.


    He was pretty sure humanity started using the hour and minute system during the rule of the ancient Babylonians. And that was much earlier than 1275 years ago, even considering the fact that years and days were longer here. Since it is year 1275 now, something big must''ve happened 1275 years ago and she decided to introduce the new system to the world.


    "What happened 1275 years ago?"


    "The Empire was born and a new Era emerged. The Final Empress created the ck Tower in the middle of the continent and then divided the rest of thend between the twelve races. If you want a brief history lesson, the Humans, Ivari and the Leyaq races won and divided the maind into three countries, pushing the losing races to the Southern Inds. That led to the creation of the Ind Alliance and the never-ending wars between the South and the rest of the world"


    Evin was once again reminded of the extent of his ignorance. There were apparently twelve races in the world, and luckily he was part of the winning group.


    There were probably millions of things happening all over the world and Evin will have to dive right into it. Some of those things were nice but mostly it was shit, judging from Evin''s own experience in life. He was to be an eternal being some way or another, so he was sure he couldn''t avoid being covered in all that shit, since his ambitions were so grand.


    "Can you teach me about magic?"


    Forcefully suppressing his thoughts, Evin decided to ask Aran about the subject he wanted to hear about the most. If he wanted to achieve his goals, strength was the most basic requirement.


    "Now that I think about it, you will still have to wait until Arza gets old enough"


    "Why?"


    He wanted toin, but the words Aran picked implied that he won''t change his mind in the matter. But at least he could ask for the reasons.


    "Magic is an extremely hard thing to learn. Arza can see essence, but it doesn''t mean he will be a talented mage. In the worst case, he might even be some sort of expendable in a war. You, on the other hand, are intelligent from birth. I can teach you the very basics and give you some pointer, and you might even be able to work out all the things I learned in a few dozen years"


    ''Why does it sound like you''ve given up on your child already? Have some faith in him, please!''


    "You''re probably overestimating me"


    Evin was happy with the praise, but he couldn''t really spend all his life chasing Aran''s trails. He needed to be immortal after all and Aran did not look all that immortal to Evin.


    "But, that''s not the whole problem. Teaching magic has severe repercussions if one does not follow the rules. I''m barely avoiding getting hanged in the gallows, by teaching you only the basics. And you would have to go to the Mage Association afterwards, to be legitimate as well," Aran said.


    "What about the problems I''m facing now?"


    "After you''re recognized as a legitimate mage apprentice, you will be considered a half 1st grade citizen, since you will be my apprentice in name. That should be enough to deter that inn owner from trying things. And also, I''m also almost done with this war, so you don''t have to worry about things. I''m teaching you the basics of the basics as ast resort of some sorts," Aran exined and continued.


    "Okay, we''ve dyed enough. Let''s start with magic studies,"


    Evin was finally going to learn how magic in this World worked. To say that he was excited was naturally an understatement.


    "What do you think a World is?"


    Evin was apparently in a World, so he had many thoughts in his head. He was trying to seed in his magic in some way for the past half a month, but hecked the crucial information on how to ess it. And now that key was in his hands.


    First of all, Evin guessed that they were what allowed mages to perform magic.


    "Worlds are a medium that helps you channel magic. But I feel that there must be something bigger behind it, now that I''m inside one myself," Evin said.


    "That is true, but that''s not the only thing that defines a World. Never think that a World is just a tool. It is a live entity that wields real, tangible power in the main world. If you start believing that a world is just a tool to be used, you can even be rejected entry into them. And by tangible, I don''t mean just the magical aspect of it. Worlds hold extremely important political, cultural and religious meanings to all the people of The Empire"


    "I''m sorry, but I don''t understand half the words you''re saying"


    Evin really didn''t. He could talk thenguage, but he still had the vocabry of a one-year-old child. Though he could roughly guess what he''s talking about, it still mostly sounded like gibberish to him.


    Aran''s cheeks flushed a bit from the embarrassment, and he seemed to realize just exactly who he was talking to.


    "I guess this talk is a bit too early for you, huh? Let''s just talk about magic then. Just remember to respect the Worlds, perhaps think of them as the Empress'' hands and feet, I suppose"


    "Okay"


    Aran''s talk about the Empire did interest Evin, but he couldn''t really be part of it until he became a decent enough mage.


    "First of all, there are twelve Worlds. We divide them into two major groups: the Elemental Worlds and the Conceptual Worlds. Most mages dabble in Elemental Worlds, since it''s much easier to imagine uses for them. Obviously, there are other great specialists of the other worlds, but you can safely say that 8 out of 10 mages would be an Elemental"


    "This World would be a Conceptual World, right?" Evin figured.


    Evin heard Aran call this world the World of Thoughts. Also, the name of the "Authority" attached to it was Veidrakar, which should mean Vei-dragon. If Evin''s Northern wasn''t sorely wrong, it should mean something along the lines of creation dragon or origin dragon.


    "Yes. As I''ve told you before it is a Conceptual World named the World of Thoughts. We''ll get to thatter. Mages must enter a world and then offer mana to the Authority of the World. The Authority of this World is the leader of the dragon kin, Veidrakar. Your ancestor, Evin," Aran said, smirking.


    Evin pretended to not understand Aran''s dumb joke, only making a solemn face. Not seeing the reaction he wanted, Aran could only sigh and continue:


    "The Authority will then give you back some of the World''s powers to use. The more mana you offer, the more energy you will get back. But you can''t receive more energy than you can handle. In your case, the most you can offer should be the size of that lodestone I gave you when you were a child. If you exceed that limit, your mana core will burst, rendering you unable to use magic for a week or a month, depending on how much you exceeded your limit. And the explosion of your core will probably the most painful thing you will experience. You canpare it having your arms explode, I guess?"


    ''My mana-core? Is that an organ that people in this world have? Wait, doesn''t that mean I have really crap talents at magic?''


    "Does this mana core get bigger?"


    "Yes, it gets bigger as you grow like all your other organs, and if you constantly use it in moderate amounts, its ability to reuse energy will get faster as well"


    "I see"


    Evin figured that he didn''t have to worry too much about overexerting himself. Even if such a thing did happen, at least it will grow back after exploding, so he will not bepletely crippled of his magic.


    "And finally, you can use the energy in your core to perform magic. The most important part in this entire process is your knowledge and imagination of the magic you want to perform. If you want the mes to hover above your hand, without hurting yourself, you must properly imagine that. Just like how you can hurt yourself with your sword, you can very easily hurt yourself with your magic"


    ''Well, that should be obvious. Basically, it means "Don''t be an idiot"'' Evin thought smugly. He was very confident in his ability to imagine things, after a year of ''gruesome'' imagination training he went through.


    ''Is that all there is to magic? Seems a bit too easy. I spent so much time trying out all sorts of things to work out this whole thing, and it was this easy? I just had to offer the stone to a World and I could start using magic? Wait, now that I think about it, I actually never thought about offering the stone What is this, some sort of a moral lesson for selfish people?''


    "I see" Evin said with a deep sigh.


    "Your tone seems to contain some other emotions, but that''s the whole gist of it. Though, don''t think that it''s simple. You will have to do a lot more mental exercises to start using magic at a practical level" Aran warned.


    "Can you tell me about the Worlds?"

 Chapter 11: The invulnerable race

    Chapter 11: The invulnerable race


    "Yeah, let''s start with the Elemental ones. First is the World of Fire, Authority''s name is St of the Ivari, a Northern insman. Your mother''s ancestor.


    Secondly, The World of Water. Authority''s name is Livendia Threetails, progenitor of the Undine in the Southern Inds.


    Thirdly, the World of Earth, ruled by K''rath Azruth of the Eastern Oasis.


    Next is the World of Storms. Ruled by Ethez Sent, a legendary rogue mage of the Kingdom.


    The Dark World. Ruled by a woman called Hin. Origins unknown.


    Luminous World. Ruled by the founder of our kingdom, Judeus Arcwall.


    These Worlds are much simpler to channelpared to the Conceptual Worlds, but it''s still a hard task to perform. Their applications are also very simple in the beginning: fireballs, water streams, strong wind, floating rocks, a room filled with disorienting shadows, a beacon of light to guide the soldiers at night those kinds of things.


    But if you delve deeper into them, you can achieve a variety of interesting things. For example, if you mix the Worlds of Fire and Earth, you can send molten earth to your enemies. Or you could try being a miniature sun bybining the World of Fire and Light. Obviously, not allbinations will achieve practical results, but it''s still fun to explore."


    ''Your imagination is the limit, huh. Now this is the magic we all know and love. He also mentioned something very interesting too,'' Evin pondered. He never thought that Authorities would have affiliations with the four countries and wondered what kind of political effect would they have.


    "And the Conceptual ones?"


    "Those are the interesting ones. First is the World of Space. Ruled by nor Elmes, founder of the Elmes Group of Storage and Transportation Services, the Elmes Group for short, and one of the cosmic felines. Probably the most interactive World out there"


    ''Cosmic felines? And what''s with that name? nor Elmes, the cat that made the Elmes Group of Storage and Transportation Services??? What''s with these cats and their love for fancy names?''


    "What does that mean?"


    "It''s a World ruled by a bunch of greedy felines that offer many convenient services, like transportation services, storage services, delivery services and things like that. But don''t call them cats, they will really not like you afterwards"


    "Why can''t mages do it themselves? Since every mage has ess to the Worlds, wouldn''t it be easy to replicate what the Elmes group is doing?"


    "That''s what I meant when I said that magic isn''t that simple. If everyone could do what everyone else did at the same level, what''s the point of striving to better your crafts. The cosmic felines control everything rted to the World of Space, and it''s practically impossible to dethrone them off that position. You could learn about the World of Space in the Kingdom''s Academy, but I''m really doubtful that you can achieve the same result as one of those cats"


    "There are mages who achieved the same as them, right?"


    "Of course. But most mages would just focus on their other studies and just leave everything rted to Space to the Elmes group. It''s much easier and efficient. At first, people wereining about their influence, but as time passed, people just epted them as part of society"


    If every mage was associated with your organization in some way or another, it would be strange if your organization wasn''t one of the most influential in the world.


    "What''s the next World?"


    "World of Thoughts. Ruled by Veidrakar of the dragon kin, or as they like to call themselves, The Lau. Definitely the most versatile of the Worlds. You can do practically everything the other worlds do if you''re that World''s blessed. But to do that, you would need an enormous amount of mental energy and lodestones. So basically only extremely powerful races like the dragons can use it properly. Us humans mostly use it for illusions and mental attacks"


    "Aren''t you pretty good at it? Considering how you were able to appear here and converse with me from the Southern fronts," Evin asked.


    "I am, but you must understand that doing this and practically using it in a battle arepletely different things. In an actual war, you would have to be very subtle in how you use illusions. Plus, if I was trying use illusions in battle, I would be going up against experienced and battle-hardened mages. You can''t make it too obvious, like making a dragon appear in the middle of a battlefield. Most will simply ignore it. What you can do is make the dragon breathe fire and make it so that the fire is real. Though, remember that this is just an example, don''t think mages create fake dragons during battles. Most illusionists mix real magic with the illusions randomly like that, to keep the pressure on enemies"


    "What about mental attacks?" just as Evin asked that, Aran smirked and pointed his finger at Evin''s head.


    Evin suddenly felt extremely fearful of what might happen, if Aran actually attacked his mind. He still considered himself half-insane by the standards of normal people. If he lost control here, Aran would definitely realize that something was horribly wrong with him.


    "Don''t use it on me!" Evin hurriedly eximed.


    "Don''t be so wary. Worry not, I won''t use it to harm you. Make sure you don''t fight it though" Aran shrugged.


    "Ugh, okay..." Evin said reluctantly, but remembered that the woman on Earth also did something simr to him.


    Aran touched the child''s forehead, and a wisp of grey appeared on Aran''s fingertips. It slowly seeped into Evin''s head, granting him extensive information about some uses of the World of Thoughts and the origin of The Empire.


    He learned that at the level of Dragons, the World of Thoughts takes on a different name: the World of Creation. Humans could only create petty tricks with the help of this World. But the dragons could disy the true potential of it. Their imagination bes reality, and all their ''illusions'' start to affect reality. They were the true embodiment of the saying: Imagination is the only limit.


    Their mental attacks could also intrinsically change how your mind worked. You could have be insane or crippled from their mental attacks, but you would never even realize it until it was toote.


    The legend of The Fourteen Heroes entered Evin''s mind. One of The Lau went berserk in the World, and a group of fourteen mages were chosen to deal with the problem. The fight continued for a month, but at the end, they slew the dragon. The heroes all survived too, so everything was perfect. But soon after, traces of madness appeared on the heroes'' personalities.


    They became more violent, more vicious, more controlling, and more ambitious. The heroes started to plot against each other. They rallied their people and prepared for war. Soon after, total war between every country the heroes were affiliated with happened. A tide of blood washed thends and hundreds of million people became the sacrifice of the heroes'' insanity. The war ended, and the ultimate victor appeared.


    The Final Empress.


    No one was sure what exactly happened afterwards, but The Empress became exceptionally powerful after this incident. She ascended into the steps of godhood, bing the most powerful entity in the World of Alvox. Her ascension cured her madness, and she soon created the Empire. She then created the system of Authorities, sharing some of her powers with them, letting them take care of that magical side of Alvox. The Empress divided thend between the twelve races, and shut herself up in her ck Tower, never again interfering with the development of her Empire.


    Evin was released from his trance, and he hurriedly gasped for air.


    Aran watched the child, amused.


    "How was it?" he inquired.


    "I feel like puking. Really badly," Evin growled with difficulty.


    "Well, now you know what a mental attack is. It''s basically a forceful injection of information into your mind. Like with this example, I could use it to impart knowledge. But if I sent you substantial quantities of misceneous or irrelevant information, I could also use it to greatly muddle and slow your mind"


    "I really don''t like this form of education"


    "Trust me, no one does," Aran smiled.


    The World of Thoughts'' versatility makes it one of the best Worlds out there.


    Evin remembered that Aran also mentioned something about a World''s blessed.


    "What does being a World''s blessed mean?"


    "I''ll tell you about it when you begin your studies with Arza. But now we''ll talk about the World of Life. Its ruler is a woman from the Eastern Oasis named Va''eri Solvatum. The Layeq people usually have abnormally good survivability thanks to their talents with the World of Life and their innate racial ability. But their offensive capabilities in the field of magic are beyond useless aside from theirpatibility with Earth, so they can only hope to kill their enemies in a closebat, or in ces with high amounts of Earth."


    "The reason they are still alive, even though their race is probably the weakest in terms of offensive power, is that they are essentially like cockroaches. It''s not that they have good defense, you can definitely kill them if you can take them by surprise, but if they survive your initial attack, they will just try to oust you with their healing ability and invulnerability"


    ''I''m pretty sure I heard something very bullshit at the end there? How can people be <em>invulnerable</em>?''


    "What do you mean, <em>invulnerability</em>?"


    "The Layeq people are also sometimes called half-spirits because of their ability to turn partially orpletely invulnerable for a period of time. They are also disgustingly good at healing themselves. You probably still remember this, but I used the World of Life to look at your status when you were born. If I find something harmful or abnormal, I could try to nudge it to the direction of healing, which takes time and constant effort on both my and your side."


    "Whereas a Layeq can just force your body to change and get into shape. They are a bit limited in their ability to heal others, but if they are trying to fix themselves, they are only limited by the amount of lodestones they have. You cut a Layeq''s arm off they''ll run back to their camp with their invulnerability and half an hourter they''ll be back at you like nothing ever happened"


    ''That''s a nastybination'' Evin thought. No wonder they are one of the three winning races on the continent. But their half-spirit state was the most interesting thing to Evin. Since used to be a spirit himself, he thought he should visit the Oasis, if he ever gets the chance of going there to learn more about spirits and such.


    "Now that I think about it, how did humans get to stay on the continent?"


    Evin felt that humans were kind of underwhelming,pared to all the other quirks and abilities the other races had.


    "Mostly thanks to our versatility. For example, if you say that all human mages have an average talent of 6 out of 10 at channeling every World, then most other races would have two or three Worlds with 10 out of 10 talent and with the rest of the Worlds they would have at most 3 out of 10 talent. Unless you''re a dragon, of course. If you''re one of The Lau, you would have perfect talent with every World and not only that, you will score 25 out of 10 at one of the Worlds. Did I ever tell you how interested am I in your future endeavors, my lord wisdom dragon?"


    ''How is that even fair?'' Evin found that it was positively bullshit that only one dragon is an Authority of a World. How are they not ruling over these pathetic mortals?


    ''It seems that I''m bringing shame to my name. Those dragons must be so disappointed in me. After I start practicing magic and if it seems I have no talent at it, I''d be well advised to kill my shameful self'' Evin joked and threw the matter out of his head.


    "Let''s talk about the next World"


    Aran chuckled and shrugged.

 Chapter 12: Introduction completion

    Chapter 12: Introductionpletion


    "Next is the World of Emotions. Its ruler is the griffin queen Librack. Griffins became one of the more influential races in the South alongside the colossi thanks to her. Mages of the World of Emotions usually have superb control over others. It''s also perfect for the Inds, since most of the denizens there are very instinctual creatures. The World basically allows you to dictate which emotions other people will feel strongly and which they will not feel as much."


    "It is mostly used in wars where there are a lot of soldiers to boost morale and minimize the risk of panic and chaos in the ranks. You can use it while negotiating or bartering with other people, but it''s very hard to hide the fact that you''re influencing them. You can guess what kind of reputation a merchant who influences their buyers would have"


    ''Another scary World,'' Evin thought with a shudder. One would think that there would a be tons of conceptual mages in the world after hearing about the powers of the rted Worlds, but the fact that eighty percent of all mages are elementals suggested that learning conceptual magic is very difficult.


    ''I''m quite interested in what thest two Worlds are,'' Evin thought with anticipation.


    "What''s next?"


    "I''ll tell you about both of them at the same time. One is the Heavy World, and the other is the World of Time. Their rulers are respectively Two Tales and Twelve Jokes. Authoritiesmissioned by the Empress herself"


    Evin thought it fair, since she has to have some kind of hold on the World, one way or another. But from what he heard, she rarely participates in the political scene of the four countries. Or perhaps the magical scene in the World is a bit different from the political scene.


    "Are they the Empress'' way of monitoring the world?"


    That was the only thing he could think of for now. Mages could ess Worlds from everywhere in the world, so they would make a great way to see what is happening everywhere in the world. But Aran simply shrugged and chuckled.


    "Why would she need that? She is the almighty of Alvox, she can just will it and her opponents will lose their ess to all the Worlds. I''ll tell you a story. There was once a country mad enough to attack the ck Tower. What do you think happened to them?"


    If even half of the things said about the Empress is true, there can only be one oue to that battle.


    "They died?"


    "They were the race of dragonshifters, a special race that could transform into dragons partially and exert some of their powers. Not veritable dragons like The Lau, but still, immensely powerful beings. They could stand atop every other race on the country, but their pride did not allow them to bully weaklings like us. They wanted the ultimate throne. The throne above the continent.


    They rallied their army and marched towards the ck Tower. But the moment they shot their first wave of spells towards the Tower City, the Empress waved off the spells and warned them that the consequences of their actions will be born by all of their race. Heedless of her words, the army continued its attack. But after a sigh from the Empress, all the dragonshifters in the entire world lost their ability to think"


    ''What the hell does that mean? The Empress can even decide who can think and who can''t?''


    "An entire race devolved into creatures that couldn''t even take two steps by themselves. They could only breathe, sleep, and eat when they were hungry. And they couldn''t even do that properly. When they got hungry, they would start trying to bite their own limbs and tails off. When they felt the pain, one could see the making a shocked and panicked expression.


    Soon after, they realized they could eat others around them. The children and the elderly were the first to be eaten by their loved ones. The madness spread beyond the dragonshifters'' kingdom and the situation forced the bordering countries to wipe out the mad race out of existence"


    "Well, some opportunistic people also tried to rear them as their pets. I believe that some of the dragonshifters still alive, living as exhibits or weapons in the houses of various influential people"


    "That''s just too extreme, isn''t it?"


    If the Empress could turn an entire race into a bunch of vegetables, she could''ve done a million other things to settle the matter. The genocide of an entire race just seems too radical.


    "Yes, some think that the entire race of dragonshifters were just part of her n to get the rest of the world in line. But honestly, who knows what the Empress thinks. She''s there and there''s nothing we can do about it. I also rmend you to not think about it too much"


    That is probably the best choice Evin could make. He always wondered whether the various gods on Earth were real or not when he was wandering around as a ghost. And thinking about it now, their existence did not really matter much at all. God was like his imaginary friend that he couldin and vent to. He could entrust him with his hope and dreams. He lived through those three hundred years believing that someone was watching his troubles and when that someone decided it was time, he would be liberated.


    But in the end, it turned out that the almighty was cking on his job and that ''God'' himself was the reason Evin had to suffer. But how could he me that God? He was a single human in a world of billions. Would you look at an ant on an anthill and specially pay attention to that one alone?


    Andparing it to this world, which literally has a god, there was really not much difference at all. People lived their lives like they always do. Earthlings believed in their various gods while people here believed in the Empress'' presence. Their beliefs may change the way they live their lives, giving them hope and strength to live through tough times, but most would believe just for the sake of believing.


    "Ahem, back to the topic," Said Aran, and after clearing his throat again, he continued. "They aremissioned by the Empress, because no one else can properly use those Worlds. As you probably imagine, the World of Time sounds like an extremely powerful World, but its strength is pointless to us, normal mages, since no one can use it properly"


    "People tried all sorts of things, like trying to stop time, trying to go back in time, trying to peek into the future, but all they could achieve was making someone slower and that was quickly found to be useless, since you yourself would be slower as well for some reason, all while costing enormous amounts of mana. But when a mage tried to make themselves faster, their bodies became highly fragile. You move just a little bit too forcefully, and your bones could just snap. We don''t know why that happens, but that''s the way it was"


    Maybe it''s a deficient World? Is the other one deficient as well? Thinking of the matter a bit more, Evin found that the reasoning was not that. Most likely, the mages simply didn''t know how time worked. Evin thought in a condescending tone, but obviously, he himself knew jack shit about time.


    "What about the other one?"


    "Heavy World also had the same problem. You could make objects either heavier or lighter, and that was it. You could pair the lightness with the World of Storms to make yourself fly, but other than that, there wasn''t much use to it. Though, if you overloaded the World with lodestones, you could probably squash someone to death, but the cost-to-effect ratio is too high. Oh also, they are widely used to speed up the natural hardening of lodestones, so it''s somewhat more popr than the World of Time"


    Evin also pondered if the Heavy World was referring to Gravity. He could definitely see a situation where the people of Alvox had yet to learn about gravity. He decided to recheck the viability of this information in the future.


    "I see. Is that everything?"


    Evin learned a lot in this conversation, and now he just needed to apply them in reality.


    ''Aran told me that he couldn''t really tell me much, but if what he said about knowledge and imagination being the deciding factors of channeling the Worlds was true, then he has essentially told me everything I need. Now I just need to practice lots and practice hard,'' Evin thought happily.


    "Yes, that''s basically everything. There''s a million ways to use the Worlds to your advantage, but they all start from the basics. Start learning how to channel the World with the mana in the air, and when Arza bes old enough, I''ll start teaching you two more in-depth knowledge. But let''s finish for today. Concentrate on yourself exiting the World to return to the main one." Aran instructed, and he became increasingly blurry and disappeared into the ck box on Evin''s hand.


    He willed himself to go back. The refreshing feeling of clear-headedness disappeared, and Evin could feel that he had returned to the main World.


    ''Perfect,'' It was much simpler than Evin imagined.


    Then, the box in Evin''s hand started whirring and three papers with writing on it appeared on Evin''s hands from inside it.


    ''Is this a fucking fax?'' Evin''s jaw fell open in shock.


    One had a list of the Worlds and their respective Authorities, and another had a set of instructions on it:


    [Ask Liza to take the stamp with the symbol that depicts a Knight helm with three different weapons from the top left drawer on my desk and stamp it on thest paper. Show to Mage Association]


    Evin took a closer look at thest paper sheet and realized that it was a deration of some sorts from Aran. It said that Aran intended to take 2nd grade citizen Eviendra as his disciple and taught him how to ess the Worlds and wished the Mage association of Smallwall city to ept him as a pseudo 1st grade citizen and also put guards near his house, so that people wouldn''t harass his family.


    Done with his conversation, Evin knocked on the door and Liza opened the room from outside. Evin showed her the instructions and the deration.


    Liza read through it and immediately did as instructed.


    "I''ll bring you to the Mage Association tomorrow, why don''t you rest inside Arza''s room for the time being? The boy is sleeping, so you can practice your new magic," Liza smiled.

 Chapter 13: World Tour

    Chapter 13: World Tour


    Liza brought Evin to Arza''s room and closed the door afterwards. Evin could see Arza sleeping on the floor with his body''s facing up, but his head was facing to the side. He grabbed at his head to fix it into the correct position, but quickly felt something wet on his hands. He then noticed the pool of spit under his cheeks and a trail of dried spit going from Arza''s mouth to the rugs.


    ''Fucker,'' he cursed under his breath. A familiar sense of difort filled his mind as he touched the pool of liquid, but he tried his best to ignore it.


    Evin wiped the spit on Arza''s sleeve and checked if he was still sleeping.


    ''Good,'' He was a bit worried that Arza would wake up because of the physical contact, but it seemed to be okay. Evin was itching to try out his magic.


    From what he heard from Aran, Elemental Worlds were easier to channelpared to the Conceptual ones, so he decided to start with the World of Storms. It was also probably one of the safer ones.


    To ess the World of Storms first, Evin needed to express his desire to enter the World to the Authority. The authority''s name was Ethez Sent as he could see from the list that Aran faxed him.


    "I beseech the World of Storms'' Authority Ethez Sent to allow me into his World"


    Evin''s mind nked for a bit, and then he felt a gentle breeze roll across his face. There didn''t seem to be a simr effect of clear-headedness like the World of Thoughts in here. It didn''t feel easier or harder to create thoughts in his head. He guessed that such an effect was probably special to that particr World.


    Here, though, he just felt free and unrestrained. A veryfortable World. Mages seemed to have a lot of perks, now that Evin thought about it. A lot of people on Earth would kill to have ess to a state of being where you could think better and have time move a hundred times slower than usual.


    He''d have loved to stay here for a bit longer, but trying out magic took precedence in Evin''s mind. He created a clear thought of himself offering the mana in the Air to the World.


    The air started to feel a bit dense, but the feeling soon disappeared. Instead, the feeling of freedom in Evin increased exponentially. His desire to be free and unrestrained increased with it as well, and dangerous thoughts started appearing in his head one after another.


    Memories of his previous life flooded his brain like some fragile dam was broken and a terribly bad feeling arose in Evin. Just the thought of those three hundred years made his heart feel like it was trapped inside a metal cage, welded shut with no room for breathing.


    He forcefully steered his head to the current situation. His yful side disappeared and a serious expression appeared on his face. Even though he acted like a carefree most of the time, he was still someone who lived through a long and harsh ''life''.


    ''If this goes on, an ident might ur. I must safely get rid of the energy in my mana core'' Evin thought with determination.


    Evin decided to instantly throw the energy to some random corner in the room after he exited the World, so that he couldn''t identally hurt himself or Arza in the process.


    He willed himself to exit the World, but he found himself struggling with the process of leaving the World.


    ''Entering was the same as the World of Mind, so why is it suddenly so difficult just get himself out of here?'' he struggled a bit and ultimately managed to safely return to the main World.


    As soon as his mind registered that he was back in the real World, he immediately imagined a breeze of wind rushing to the corner of the room.


    Evin trained his imagination so much in the first few months of his life, holding that lodestone, one would think that this process would work out without a problem. But reality said otherwise, and the energy that was gathered in his core surged to the air majestically and ultimately did nothing.


    Evin could see the remnants of light green mana sizzle into nothingness in the air. Soon after, it turned invisible.


    ''Must''ve been assimted into the mana in the air'' Evin guessed.


    The raging emotions in his heart also died out, and he could finally take a breather.


    It seems that entering and exiting a World is not such a simple thing. His experience in the World of Thoughts was such a nice one, that he had let his guard down.


    There were a lot of things that could go wrong when you''re trying out something new. Especially when trying somethingpletely foreign, like magic.


    There was also the problem with Evin himself.


    Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that he was outwardly a kid, but Evin often found himself thinking of childish, immature thoughts. It was not a serious issue if he kept it in check, but it was still there and it sometimes took over his other thoughts.


    ''Aran told me to respect the Worlds and the first thing I do is a ring failure,'' Evin thought while shaking his head. Then, the paper with the List of Worlds started glowing slightly and new words appeared on it.


    [essing Worlds will have severe emotional effects on your head, depending on what kind of life you lead. Offering mana and receiving that World''s energy would amplify these emotions greatly. The best way to counter this is to train your mental fortitude and meditate inside the World of Thoughts,] the new words read.


    ''Say that first,'' Evin grumbled.


    At this point Liza came inside the room, holding a bowl of slushy oatmeal. Elina came to feed him, since Evin still had some trouble holding utensils.


    Finished with his food, he resumed his World Tour.


    He still needed to check the other Worlds and see what kind of effect they would have on him. Instead of recklessly trying out dangerous new Worlds, he decided to first see what kind of emotional effects they would have on his own mind.


    He also wanted to confirm which Worlds were harder to leave and which were rtively easier.


    He quickly cycled through the Elemental Worlds to check their effects.


    The World of Water made one more erratic, ever-changing and ever-shifting. Evin''s thoughts were all over the ce and he was sure he needed to use every bit of willpower he had to rein in those thoughts to work toward one aim. He could also feel the presence of liquid things much better: the moisture in the room, the blood running through his veins and even the blood, sweat and snot in Arza sleeping next to him.


    He would probably not use this World that much, since the constant awareness of flowing liquids disturbed him greatly.


    In The World of Earth, you would feel more steady, but you would definitely feel much more lethargic. You would feel fulfilled even though you weren''t doing anything, really. Like everything''s just right. Probably one of the safer Worlds in his experience. Although he couldn''t notice anything special, like being able to think better or feel fluids like in the World of Water and The World of Mind.


    After that was the Luminous World. The Western kingdom''s founding king''s World. It was a very weird experience. On one hand, Evin felt extremely huggy. He wanted to feel someone''s touch and never let go. He debated hugging at Arza to see what happens, but thanks to his immense willpower he could stop that train of thought.


    But on the other hand, he felt the need to be famous. He wanted everyone to know who he really was. He wanted to tell his parents about how he came from another world called Earth and justy everything he had in his mind in front of them.


    Long story short, Evin didn''t think he was going to be using this World for a long time.


    Next was the World of Darkness. After entering the World, he immediately felt exposed in such a bright ce, he felt the need to avoid such ces and he wanted to stay out of everyone''s attention. All the things he might have done that would have potentially exposed his origins flooded into his mind, and he was forced to mull over them deeply. He figured that it will probably be useful if he ever had to clear his tracks.


    He also felt nothing extraordinary here. Although the darker spots in the room seemed to strike out to him more: They looked as if a marker in his eyes highlighted them.


    Finding nothing else, Evin moved on to the next World.


    The World of Fire, though, was a real shock. As soon as he entered the World, the surrounding area was set afire. An unimaginable heat pervaded every bit of his body, rendering him unable to breathe. He felt no pain, but it was difficult to stay calm when suddenly met with such a sight.


    The house that Evin was in disappeared and just andscape dominated by fiery colors filled his vision. Ashes on the ground still sparked embers, refusing to burn out in this world dominated by eternal mes. The silhouettes of his mother and Liza also became visible to Evin, sitting around on a table. Burning.


    They didn''t seem to mind the fact that much.


    And the weirdest part was, the sight brought him unimaginable joy. He wanted to enact this purgatory scene in the main World and the first thing he would do was to burn Aran''s house to ashes. If Evin had offered more lodestones to the World, he''d most likely stop at nothing to set the World on fire.


    Some part of Evin''s head hurriedly brought him away from the World. After exiting, Evin calmed himself down and concluded his exploration of the Elemental Worlds.


    In summary, stay away from Fire, Water and Light and practice casting magic in the other Worlds.


    It was time to explore the Conceptual Worlds.


    And the most interesting thing happened after he entered the World of Space.


    The World itself looked the same as the main one, but he could see and discern objects much better here. He could urately estimate the size of the room, the distance to an object sitting far away from him, and he could even roughly measure the distance to a tree he could see outside the window. He was also sure his hand eye coordination became much better than usual.


    He didn''t know what kind of feeling this ce was supposed to invoke, but he felt something. He felt as if everything was fine, but there was a certain feeling of uneasiness, as if he didn''t belong somehow.


    But aside from all that, the most important feature of the World, was that soon, a shiny cat would appear from somewhere in the World and greet you.


    The one that appeared before Evin had a half-transparent body with shiny orange dots, which Evin presumed were stars, scattered all over their bodies. He could see why Aran called them Cosmic Felines. It was slightlyrger than normal house cats on Earth, with pointier ears andrge orange eyes. The cat''s body would also emit a pale orange aura, giving off a warm and holy feeling.


    If he ever saw a cat like this back on Earth, he too would probably start worshipping them like the Egyptians.


    The feline greeted him in a female voice:


    "Wee to the World of Space. Is this your first time here?"

 Chapter 14: Cosmic Feline

    Chapter 14: Cosmic Feline


    A friendly tone. And a voice so clear and so smooth. Evin was sure that these Felines hired a voice coach from somewhere, teaching them proper postures and whatnot just to help them close business deals more sessfully.


    "Yes, as you can see, I''m only a newborn child. Today''s my first day learning about Worlds"


    Evin decided to not hide the obvious and try to get on the Feline''s good side. They were the ones who ran the biggest business in the World, anyway.


    "You must be a Child of the Empress then, congrattions!"


    "I suppose so," Evin heard the familiar word again.


    Evin supposed cases like him weren''t so rare.


    ''Perhaps they were all reincarnators like himself? Or maybe there are some children who are actually much smarter than others?''


    Evin didn''t really care much, to be honest. He understood that even if one thought themselves special there could be a dozen other people who experienced the exact same things as you.


    The Feline cocked her head and asked, "What are you thinking so deeply about?"


    "Nothing," Evin said in a perfunctory way.


    The Cosmic took the Child''s attitude as being wary, as she yfully cocked her head and said:


    "Ah, the children and their paranoia. No wonder most of you be so talented at Lady Hin''s Dark World"


    The feline''s words double-confirmed Evin''s suspicion about other reincarnators in this World. Normal children, even if they were born with adult minds, will think their level of intelligence is normal. Maybe at most, their parents will confuse them greatly, for they would talk to their child like it was an idiot.


    But only reincarnators will constantly worry about their origins, making them naturally paranoid of everything.


    "Can I ask what your name is and why you came here? I''m Evin, by the way"


    "My name is Solraheeth Ritven, but you can call me Rith, I''m but a humble Cosmic searching for potential customers for my services. I can offer you my services, but you must pay for the lodestones I require for casting whatever magic you require of me, plus 12% for the service. Or you could also make a contract with me, stating that you will only ask me when using the services of the Elmes Group, plus you will owe me a favor. My share for a contracted customer will be only 7%"


    Evin could notice the feline''s increasing excitement as she talked. He found the whole matter a tad bit weird, but he couldn''t really put a finger on what exactly was weird.


    "What kind of favor?"


    "It could be anything, but it will be something that you can aplish. Most of the time, I will request you to find a certain material"


    As long as it wasn''t too hard, Evin didn''t mind owing a favor for benefits.


    "What services do you offer?"


    "I can store your various objects in his personal Storage. Different objects will be stored in various environments suited for the object. For example, I can store weapons and books in the normal wares, but you could store your edibles in a colder temperature. If you need to store animals, I will do my best to create the best environments to store them as well. Currently, I have ess to pastures for horses and sheep, and also a jungle for some exotic animals,"


    The Feline''s eyes glittered when she spoke of her business. She continued.


    "I could also offer you teleportation services. I can send you to any notable city in the Kingdom. If you wish to travel to the other countries, I can talk to my superiors about it. Though you would most likely have to pay an astronomical price, since there are extra fees like taxes and whatnot attached to teleportations of that scale,"


    "I could also make you essories imbued with the World of Space, that can either store items inside it, or something that could return you to a ce you have marked with the essory. If you think of something that could be done in the World of Space, I can try it out for you as well. Oh, also, we can also help you deliver objects from one ce to another"


    The felines were much more hospitable and easygoing than Evin imagined. He thought they would be more prideful and arrogant, but they were even willing to try out a one-year-old''s experimental magic.


    "Sadly, the only thing I have now is the mana of the air. I''m afraid you will have to wait until I am older to do business with me. But I''ll be happy to make a contract with you when I''m older"


    The feline seemed sincere to Evin, so he didn''t mind promising a contract. He also didn''t wish to offend her, lest she badmouthed him to her colleagues.


    ''Never underestimate workce gossip. That shit kills you''


    Rith just nodded and took out a ne.


    The Feline floated a little and put the ne around the child''s neck.


    It was a small, orange, moon shaped pendant, made with something akin to a lodestone, but not quite.


    "It''s fine, I can wait. But make sure you tell that I already contacted you if any of my kind asks for a contract with you. When you wish to, you can insert the energy of this World into the ne and I wille find you. Do it inside the World of Space. Take care now, little one," Rith said and floated away soon after.


    Evin promptly left the World and thought about the two things he found out.


    ''First, I suppose I should look out for these Children of the Empress,'' Something told him that the Children served a huge role in this World.


    Second, perhaps he could do business with the Felines. The way Rith talked about her services was very weird to Evin. Like some kind of addict.


    ''Perhaps these Felines get off of getting rich? Who knows?'' Evin shrugged.


    Evin also knew a few ideas that went well with the World of Space. He could sell them the idea, but he would need to ensure he doesn''t get scammed or taken advantage of. He would need to ask Aran for some advice.


    Throwing the various ideas to the back of his head, Evin entered the World of Life.


    Instantly, Evin could feel all the nitty-gritty details in his body. He could instinctively tell how healthy he was and whether he needed something fixed. The downside of this World was the feeling of OCD concerning his body. He badly wanted to fix whatever that was wrong with his body. He debated trying to actually work on his body but ultimately gave up, in fear of doing something wrong.


    Before leaving the World, Evin mmed his hand at the edge of a chair. He only hoped to bruise himself lightly, doing nothing extreme. As expected, the urge to heal his body increased by many times, forcing him to promptly leave the World.


    Leaving the World seemed much harder than the other times for Evin. He figured that the stronger your emotions, the harder it was to leave.


    The nagging feeling of OCD lingered for a bit before vanishingpletely, leaving only the slightly annoying pain.


    The next World was owned by Librack, queen of the Griffins, the World of Emotions.


    Evin was wondering what kind of effect would a World such as this one would have, but it was just an amplification of the emotion one was currently feeling.


    Right after he entered the World, his anticipation and wariness meters were off the charts, but after he realized what exactly was happening, a mix of disappointment and relief washed over him.


    He tried to cycle through different emotions while he was in the World. He found that freely changing his emotions took quite a bit of time. But thanks to his rich life experience, he had many memories to draw emotions from.


    ying around in the World for some time, he soon got bored and left.


    Next, he entered the World of Time.


    Surprisingly, nothing happened to his emotions in this World. He gave up on trying to work with the magic in this World, even though the World had no emotional influences. He wasn''t conceited enough to think he could nonchntly seed at what every other mage attempted for the past millennia. But he still screamed "THE WORLD" as loud as he could, making a cool pose. Promptly, after which he made some dumbments like: "Was that a **** Reference?!"


    Satisfied with his fill of fun, he was about to leave the World, but a girl''s giggling stopped him from doing so.


    As Evin looked around himself, he found that the World had nothing different. He then realized that the World of Time was quite creepy. Everything was still, and it gave Evin a sense of terror and dread. Even the silhouette of Arza lying down next to him seemed more unsettling to him.


    ''Is this the World of Horrors or what. Wait, Evin, you were a ghost yourself. How can you get scared from small stuff like this? Or maybe it''s just my insanity producing hallucinations now''


    Thatst thought worried Evin a bit, like someone suddenly started to talk about that one banned topic that no one likes to think about in a family gathering.


    After finding nothing out of the ordinary, he resolved to leave the World.


    Thankfully, nothing else happened. But just as Evin was about to release a sigh of relief, the child''s high-pitched voice rang in his head again.


    "I hope youe back to y again~"


    ''What the hell was that, man?''


    He warily looked around himself, half expecting some cursed doll to jump at him, but to his relief, he found nothing like it.


    You know, I''ll just ask Aranter. He should know about these World things more than I do. I feel like I have so many things to ask him now.


    ''But it''s so creepy, though''


    Trying to get the matter off his head, Evin decided to visit thest World.


    Even though he hadn''t really tried to perform any magic, except in the World of Storms, he still felt tired and spent after this mini world tour he just performed.


    ''If I have to fight with this core, I''ll most likely end up dead from fatigue, rather than because of the enemy,'' Evin joked.


    As Evin chanted Two Tales'' name and essed the Heavy World, an immense pressure fell upon him all at once!

 Chapter 15: Authority

    Chapter 15: Authority


    A dozen lifetime''s worth of despair and loneliness filled his entire being, obliterating his carefree thoughts, leaving behind only the cold anguish in its ce.


    But instead of breaking down like he would normally do, his existence felt sharpened and determined. He wanted to escape! To never feel such things again!


    Feeling like he was standing on the edge of a cliff, with nothing but cold hard boulders behind him. Threatening to push him off. To push his sanity over the edge. There were hundreds of voices telling me to persevere, to push back the boulders behind him. w your way through the rocks if you have to, just make sure you don''t fucking fall.


    Evin followed the voices''mands and fought against the pressure. He hoped that the pressure from the World will fall with time, but his hope was doomed to shatter soon after.


    Among the voices that told him to persevere, a voice in there somewhere kept saying that he should just fall. Leave everything to fate and live on as some mad child, bbering on about some made up world called Earth. His sharpened mind was losing its edge quickly, constantly dulled by the weight of depression and the asional blows from these voices.


    The World''s pressure was immense and unyielding. It threatened to drown Evin''s thoughts, trying to rece itpletely with a disheartening form of manic depression.


    Evin''s counterattack was also immense and unyielding. But unfortunately, it was finite and weary. Before the gate of sanity in his head broke down, Evin let his thoughts wander freely as an attempt to distract himself from the pressure.


    ''Sure, I live as a madman, free of worry and pain. Only caring about perfecting my inner bubble. But what will I do after I die? But what happened after I die? Spend another 300 hundred years dead and hope for another ''god'' to take notice of me?''


    ''No. I can''t''


    ''I''ll burn this damn World down to its roots, if that helps me see a way to save myself from that oue!''


    ''But what am I supposed to do?''


    Some part of him understood that he just had to leave the World, but his instincts told him he would surely lose control during thatpse of concentration.


    ''Leaving the World is, for some fucking reason, extremely hard when I''m under pressure from the World''


    If Evin did nothing, he could persist for a bit. But eventually, he would have to sumb to the madness. Or he could try leaving, and maybe he will have a 5 percent chance of seeding.


    ''Honestly, five percent isn''t that bad. That''s basically one in twenty! And honestly, even if the chance of sessfully leaving was 50 percent, I''d still be shitting my pants here''


    ''Wait, how do I even know it''s five percent, anyway. It''s just some number I found likely. Icould try leaving, but the chance might have been zero percent and he would have been oblivious to it. Well, honestly, I''d probably be too insane to care at that point''


    ''Silver lining, though, is that I''m probably getting used to the pressure of the World, if I''m getting the leisure to joke around''


    Evin found that letting his thoughts wander helped him greatly in distracting himself from the World''s pressure. He felt proud of himself, thinking of such an ingenious solution during such dangerous moments.


    He soon realized that the pressure was getting much more bearable. It was still there, definitely. But before it was like a mountain, now it seemed like a truck. It was still heavy, but definitely much easier. And it was getting smaller and smaller.


    ''What the hell is happening?''


    A few momentster, the pressurepletely disappeared and Evin finally found a chance to let his frail and tired body fall to the ground. Wheezing and sweating.


    A minute or so passed until Evin could catch his breath. He sat up to look around and find a gigantic wooden table in front of him.


    ''By the Empress, that must be the fanciest table I will ever see in my wretched life'' Evin thought.


    As he dipped his toes in many fields during the long time Evin spent as a specter, he could tell the extent of exquisite craftsmanship that went into this work of art. Every board was aligned to the millimeter next to each other, with each and every one of them sanded down to perfection.


    The ornaments on the desk were a mix of Oriental and Western designs. Oriental, because the wood itself creates a nature based shape that depicted a look of natural bnce. Western, because the various small decorations surrounding the desk was a mix of minimalist and baroque techniques.


    It gave off a conflicting feeling, but nheless, it was interesting to look at.


    But the principal attraction was the base wood, made of some magical material as the grains and random knots on the wood showed what looked to be an electrical current running through them. Sometimes, random sparks appeared, and a popping sound entered Evin''s ears.


    A calming sensation filled the weary soul, simr to how one would feel when watching the crackling of fire.


    As much as Evin loved to keep staring at the table, his attention was drawn to the man sitting behind the desk.


    A man with sharp features stared at Evin with an expression that was a weird mix of curiosity and indifference. Like the man had finally found something interesting, but could not help but think it would disappoint him again, like all the other things that grew uninteresting to him over time.


    He wore a jacket with some dark-colored embroidery over a white cor, with a simr styled suit draped over his shoulders. He really looked like some mafia boss from a movie. And instead of those wannabes, who would look like kids wearing oversized clothes, the look suited the man to the tee.


    ''Funny how he would look like some mysterious bartender in a rundown bar with only his jacket, while if he wore his suit, he would just look like a notably hot middle-aged man,'' Evin thought.


    But Evin supposed that the man would find it hard to look normal with his sharp re that emitted that a dark purple glow like some kind of phone screen.


    ''Why the hell does everyone in this world have shiny eyes, shiny stones, and shiny fucking wooden desks?!''


    ''Why is he wearing a suit in the middle ages, anyway?!''


    ''If you''re going to make me go through this another world bullshit, at least do it properly!''


    ''And where did this desk came from anyway?! Did you fucking carry it here to look cool?!''


    Evin''s yful side reappeared, as if that desperate situation that he had just experienced was nothing more than a bad dream.


    Oblivious to the child''s inner conflict, the man broke the silence in the World.


    "Wee to my World, little guest from Earth. I am named Two Tales"


    ''The World Authority? Wait, he knows I''m from Earth!'' Evin thought, creasing his brows.


    Without minding the child, Two Tales continued.


    "I''ll keep it short, don''t bother speaking. Normally I would show up before you when you be a much stronger mage, or at least be much more proficient in the magic of my World. But sadly, old protocols can''t keep up with new circumstances.


    As you''ve seen, the Worlds draw out certain emotions from deep inside you. The Storm brings out your desire to be free. The Light shows your desire to be acknowledged and loved, while Space reminds you of your sense of belonging in a ce.


    And sadly, my World draws out the deepest despair and pressure that lives in the subconsciousness of its guests. For someone like you, it''s practically your worst enemy.


    But us Authorities are fair. Especially me and Twelve Jokes. The others show bias towards their kin, but it is at an eptable rate.


    I will grant you a benefit until you are 15 years old. Until then, you will feel pressure from the Worlds only from the events that happen in Alvox. Your memories from Earth shall not affect your experience here.


    You must have many questions. But I''m afraid you will have to find the answers yourself.


    But... well, it mostly depends on your choices.


    I hope we meet again. Now rest"


    Without giving Evin any chance to utter a word, with a dismissive nce from his eyes, he sends the child back to Aran''s house again.


    Evin wanted to get up, but he was too tired to do so.


    The familiar scent of Liza''s cooking enters his nose. Voices of his mother sounded like warm melodies to his ears. Evin felt safe in the warmth of his surrounding environment. Not the iplete way he usually feels, but truly safe.


    With his eyelids feeling like the heaviest things in the universe to him, blissfully, he passed out on the living room floor.


    ''Feels almost nostalgic'' was hisst thought before he fell into dreand.

 Chapter 16: The dream

    Chapter 16: The dream


    Evin would usually dream of himself wandering in some unknown ce, mostly a ruined town or a dim forest. Lost and confused.


    But this time, he dreamt of his old life.


    Evin was born in a small, middle-ss family and he was the third child with a sister and a brother above him. His family livedfortably, as his parents worked in a very sessful job at their time. He never had any needs, and he always found himself content andfortable.


    Loved by his parents and siblings, since he was the youngest, he grew with no worries. The amount of care and doting his parents showed him reached abnormal levels, but that, too, had a special reason. He had two younger twin sisters, but sadly they had contracted a terrible disease and passed away due to it.


    His family was visiting some festival happening in the town, but they didn''t realize something terrible was circting around the neighborhood. A few of themunity kids started vomiting during their visit, so everyone immediately went back to their houses. Evin was only four or so at the time, so he was still very childish and didn''t know exactly what was happening. But he still noticed how everyone in the family became more and more restless.


    He still yed around with his elder siblings, but he could see that their minds were always somewhere else. Thinking. Worrying. Fearing.


    A few days after, as Evin was walking around his home, he heard his mother crying outside the girls'' room and he went tofort her.


    But as soon as she heard his voice, she screamed at the boy to get away, which made Evin flinch in fear and run away. He felt wronged and cried a lot afterwards. She never screamed at him like that before. And he just wanted to gofort her.


    He went toin to his elder siblings, but they were nowhere to be found. He searched around the house for them, and he ended up in the girls'' room door.


    This was the only ce he hadn''t yet checked, and his mother, who was guarding the door, had also disappeared off to somewhere. Curiously, he entered the room. But he would regret that decision for his entire life, as the sight of his younger sisters were bare for him to see.


    Lesions and rashes covered his little sisters'' faces. Their faces looked fake, almostic, like someone put makeover over one''s pimples in a bad attempt to hide it. Some older lesions turned into indents or rashes, while others were leaking some yellowish fluid from it.


    And these things covered every inch of their skin. Not a single part of their bodies were left untouched. Their limbs, chest and back, and the entirety of their faces looked like a badly done crocodile skin cutting ritual.


    Most would recognize these as the symptoms of malignant-type smallpox. Heter learned that only 5 percent of all ounted cases were malignant-type cases. But practically all of them result in death because of the excessively high fevers that ur because of it. Bad luck, the doctors would note.


    Evin never saw such sights before and could only stare dumbly at the bodies of his sisters. Some part of him wanted to cry in a tantrum, but something inside him knew that the situation was too severe for him to cry about it.


    His mother soon found him and rushed to take him out of the room.


    She reprimanded her boy with a teary face, but soon started crying and whimpering that he was going to be okay, that he won''t be like his sisters.


    Soon his father came and took control of the situation.


    They had to iste him for quite a long time after that. His family would talk to him from behind a door, and they would take turns so the boy won''t feel too lonely.


    He remembered crying a lot during that time. Evin cried because he was alone, because he was sad for his sisters'' deaths, but mostly because he didn''t want to be like them too.


    Only after three weeks, when they were a hundred percent sure that he was okay, they let him out.


    Even after he was confirmed to be safe, he clearly remembered that some servants would look at him with wariness. Even his siblings didn''t want to be with him for extended periods.


    The incident became Evin''s biggest trauma for most of his life, and he would often have nightmares about it.


    In those nightmares, he would find himself in a pool of dark water, looking above. Expectantly. Fearfully. His sisters would soon descend from above and gaze at Evin indifferently. Evin would be happy at first, but soon his sisters'' faces would turn from indifference to hatred and pain.


    Their delicate skins would start forming lesions and pus rapidly. In a matter of seconds, such abrasions would cover their entire skin. Soon they would start popping and leaking fluid, as if his sisters were boiling from inside. Evin''s sisters would inte in ridiculous ways, almost like they were about to explode, but they never did. They would slowly... torturously melt down onto his face.


    With the fluids falling on Evin''s cheeks, the boy''s fear of contracting the disease would re up. He would imagine himself in a simr state, covered in abrasions. Leaking.


    He would madly run away from his sisters, filled with fear and guilt. The fear urged him to faster, but the guilt ate at him from the inside.


    But running through an endless pool of muddy water, he would soon find himself under his sister''s dripping corpse.


    The dripping would follow him until he woke up gasping for air and finding his bed soaked in a cold sweat. Silently, he would sit there, trying to calm himself. Hoping to forget. Even though he himself knew exactly how futile it was.


    He soon started hallucinating. Just sitting outside in his family''s fields, he heard the sounds of dripping water. Panic would fill his entire being, as he tried his best to ignore it. He never learned how to cope with it, since the sounds came so suddenly. During the worst times of the hallucination, he would feel a drop of liquid ssh on his head. Startling him beyond belief. He would fearfully feel his head, afraid to find some kind of viscous liquid leaking to his face.


    Even after Evin had died, turned into a spirit, then went into another World, these feelings resurfaced in his mind.


    Again, Evin heard the muffled sounds of dripping water. Then a rising feeling of dread and panic. And then, the feeling of liquid sshing on his head.


    Drip.


    Drip.


    Drip


    Evin woke up from his dreams and found Arza drooling over his head.


    ''Fucker'' he cursed.


    Evin sighed and shoved Arza off himself. He found a towel and wiped the drool off his face. His hands were trembling and his gaze was quivering.


    Those dreams of his sisters were his biggest fears when growing up. Perhaps it was a twisted attempt by his subconscious to force the child to face his traumas. But it was too much for the child to bear. He even developed a rare form of aquaphobia. While it wasn''t a fear of water bodies in general, sounds of dripping and the sight of leaking fluid would instantly rile him up.


    He overcame these fears in time, but it still gave him an irrational sense of difort.


    ''Fuck'' he cursed again and tried his best to forget about the matter.


    Since it was still bright in the room, he must''ve been passed out for only a few minutes. Perhaps half an hour at most.


    To sooner forget about his fears, he forced himself to focus on the matter of the Heavy World again.


    Arza was trying to catch Evin''s attention in the background, but having not much sess. Evin had begun to learn how to best ignore Arza''s attempts at bullying. One had to show an insurmountable front, and not show any reactions. And when the child tested you out, by trying to punch you or grab at you, you had to do the same back to him, to show him that you''re not to be messed with.


    And since the kid was the source of his difort, Evin would not give him any face.


    Thinking of it like that, it was a bit sad when one realized that Evin was a three centuries old man, but child opted to ignore this pointpletely and focused on the magical problem at hand.


    ''Two Tales told me I''m safe from the influence of the Worlds until I am 15 years old. This means that working with the Worlds should be much easier than before,''


    Evin checked the Worlds one by one again and found his thoughts to be true. It also became much easier to exit and enter them. The Heavy World that almost pushed him to insanity before just by being inside, only made him feel slightly gloomy now.


    He also spent a bit more time in the World of Time, to see if he could hear theughter again.


    The difort and fear that the World instilled in others was still there, so he hurriedly left that ce after checking that there was no additional effect. He could swear that a gaze fell upon him after he entered the World, but the child obviously did not have any way to confirm his spections.


    He wondered if the special effect of the World was to instill fear in a person. Obviously, the concept of time is the most unknown to humanity. And the unknown is usually what creates most fear in people.


    Evin hurriedly made himself forget the incident in the World of Time. He liked to think that he was quite proficient at conditioning himself to suit his needs and priorities.


    And his current priority was to decide his future actions.


    Fifteen years seemed like a lot of time, especially in this World with 400 days a year and 26 hours in a single day. But Evin knew very personally how time passed in the blink of an eye.


    He needed to be mentally strong enough to resist the effects of the Worlds in the future. And for that, he definitely needed more strength and fortitude. He was also extremelycking in the department of information.


    He had a rough n of studying under Aran and gradually umting wealth in his mind, but now he had to take a more active approach.


    The first thing that came to his mind was the Cosmic Felines. Perhaps he could ask them to teach some of their magic and exchange it for some benefits.


    But for that to work, he would need concrete information about the felines. He decided he should ask Aran everything the man knew about the Felines and evaluate their credibility. If Evin decided they were trustworthy, he would go with the n. But if he found them too mysterious, or too unpredictable, he could only beg Aran to teach him early.


    As he had very little cards to y, he only had these two choices at this point of time. He could also decide to practice alone and hope to achieve some sort of enlightenment, but he found that to be very unlikely.


    But he couldn''t ck on training, so he promptly entered the World of Thoughts and started training his imagination.

 Chapter 17: Mage Association

    Chapter 17: Mage Association


    ''Back when I tried to cast magic in the World of Storms, I couldn''t achieve anything, mostly because I was distracted with the strong desire to be free, and also because I employed the simplest form of imagination possible''


    He thought about a gust of wind appearing in the room, and that was it.


    He wondered if it would be easier to channel magic with this new perk, so he entered the World of Storms and tried his best to emte exactly what he did previously. He gathered the mana in the air and imagined the same thing.


    Just like he expected, nothing substantial happened. Although it was much easier this time, since there was not much emotional interference from the World.


    Since the previous actions did not bear any fruit, Evin decided to change his approach a little.


    ''The scientifically correct definition of wind is the recement of hot air with cold air, because one is heavier than the other''


    But the much easier way to understand it, was that it was just the movement of air.


    Evin''s first attempt was to imagine the concept of wind. This time, he would envision the detailed process of the movement of air.


    There wasn''t much to think deeply about here, he simply had to imagine air particles moving from one spot to another. To make it easier to grasp, he decided to use a measurement system and thought about moving 1000 liters of air from the corner of the room to his face. He did not want to imagine a number smaller than that, since he imagined that forcefully moving small amounts of air in high speeds was the primary way of attacking as an elemental mage of the World of Storms.


    He entered the World as before and then offered the small amount of mana that had regathered in the air. The World filtered mana that Evin offered to it and then gave back some of its unique energy back to Evin.


    He exited the World and then got into the job of envisioning the movement of air. The energy of the World of Storms that Evin gathered in his body was all used, and he could feel most of it simply disappear into the atmosphere and get absorbed back into the other mass of mana in the air. Very soon, a miniscule amount of air gently brushed past his face.


    ''Sess,''


    Its power was much smaller than he expected and Evin knew that he wasted practically 80 percent of the mana he absorbed But even so, it was his first sess in the field of magic.


    This fact motivated him greatly, thus he went on to try out many other things, before he ran out of energy again.


    He was able to confirm two things with his tests.


    First of all, theplexity of his imagination was essential in sessfully casting magic. And second, his willpower was also irreceably vital in the control of a World''s energy.


    Complexity, because the more concrete Evin''s imagination, the better the oue of his magic. After his initial achievement, Evin tried lowering his imagination levels, only thinking of moving air to himself, not bothering with the amount, speed and distance to travel. As he expected, the oue was much worse than the first try.


    He then imagined the scientific process of wind, imagining that his side of the room was a filled with hot air, while he filled the other side with cold air. Surprisingly, this oue was the most energy efficient one. He only wasted about a third of the Storm energy he absorbed.


    The result was also very interesting. Since he was able to influence the area of the entire room, naturally, all the air in the room underwent a shift in mass and a sudden natural wind formed inside the room. Arza was also a delighted with the sudden wind and fell into a fit of giggles. It gave him that familiar calming feeling natural wind gives, but Evin found it a bit hard to utilize in practice.


    The reason being, it was just wind. Nothing special. Perhaps he could forcefully make huge amounts of hot and cold air crash, effectively making a tornado. But he decided that controlling small amounts of air quickly and explosively was the proper way to go with this World. Perhaps the Heavy Mages of the kingdom would prefer to create a Tornado, but Evin felt that he wouldn''t be a Heavy Mage that soon.


    Moving such a huge amount of air would take a massive amount of mana, which Evin''s core simply could not handle.


    The other crucial topic was the importance of willpower. Evin couldn''t exin how exactly it worked, but to achieve his desired ''quickness and explosiveness,'' he had to put a lot of emotions and will into his imagination. Whenever he tried to casually imagine a wind or some kind of air de, the effect would always be very low and inefficient.


    He then tried to add a target to aim at and found that really wishing to destroy or hurt the target would have better effects.


    Evin thought about teaching the arts of dodging invisible air to Arza, but decided against it. The time will soone.


    Instead, his target became a piece of clothing that Arza ripped off at some point.


    As always, Evin tried many things. He willed air towards that piece of cloth a few dozen times with increasing hatred towards it.


    He never used more than 10 percent of the mana in the room, so it was never used up. And his theoretical maximum limit was a lodestone the size of a pinky, so although he was tired, he could still go on. Moreover, since the pressure from Worlds was reduced many times thanks to Two Tales, the mental pressure on him was much more bearable.


    As for the piece of clothing, it never expected to receive so much hate so suddenly. Evin''s objective was to cut the thing in half, but obviously the best he could do was push it away for a few meters.


    He also tried making the air projectiles curve or make boomerang movements, but hecked sufficient control to achieve such things. He decided to try a few times to see if there''s progress, but, naturally, he couldn''t see air, so he couldn''t see if the thing was curving or not. He could onlyment his foolishness.


    He decided that the World of Storms was a very powerful World, due to the fact that the primary way of attacking was invisible. He wasn''t sure how other mages dealt with such a way of attacking, but he definitely knew that there was a way. If not, Aran would only talk about the World of Storms with him.


    After finishing his round of tests, Evin was thoroughly tired. The fatigue of using magic for the first time in his life, cycling through the Worlds, living through his trauma, all of it were a bit too much to digest for one day.


    He went out of Arza''s room and asked Liza if he could contact Aran once more.


    Liza exined that the ck box could only be used once in two weeks, so they had to wait for quite a long time. If Evin could somehow make sure of the Cosmics'' reliability, he could probably solve most of the problems his family was facing in one fell swoop.


    Sadly, he couldn''t make the decision before then, so he could only wait patiently. But after he became a pseudo 1st grade citizen, his problems should get solved automatically as well, with the help of the additional guards.


    ''But more money never hurts and I don''t think that having a connection with the Cosmics would be detrimental in any way''


    ''But that''s all for tomorrow''s me to solve,'' Evin dered and went to sleep.


    The next day, Liza made him take a bath and started methodically cleaning the boy.


    Evin was a bit ashamed of the treatment, but he was too surprised at the modern feel that Aran''s bathroom had to care. There wasn''t tap water or anything like that, but there was a magical device that spurted out warm water and a drainage pipe that was seemingly connected to some sewage system.


    After Liza cleaned Evin to her satisfaction, she gave him some of the better clothes that Arza had and carried him in her arms to the Mage association building.


    This time, he wasn''t refused at the gate, since the guards here knew of Liza and let them in without a problem.


    The Mage Association''s building looked like a university of some sorts from outside. It didn''t look too fancy, but Evin guessed that there were many magical devices inside for the convenience of its residents.


    As Evin looked around, he could see that many of the mages inside had what seemed to be an emblem, or a stamp of some sorts, with one half made of a silvery metal and the other half made of what seemed to be a perpetually glittering lodestone. But these lodestones didn''t really seem all that useful in Evin''s eyes. It did look pretty, but Evin was sure that if he tried to absorb the mana inside it, nothing would happen.


    At any rate, as far as he could tell, most of the mages wore these things on their bodies. Some unted them, dangling them from the center of chests, while others simply had them dangling from their sides.


    ''I''m guessing that the rest are hiding them inside their bodies somewhere. I suppose Aran is one of thetter cases,'' Evin thought and put the matter of the emblems out of his head.


    He could also notice that some of the other residents of the building seemed to avoid Liza somewhat after noticing her. It almost felt like how some animals would avoid colorful reptiles, since they knew that eating such an animal would be painful for them.


    Liza, on the other hand, did not pay these mind and confidently walked through the corridors.


    "You seem like you''ve been here a lot," Evinmented.


    "Well, Ie here quite a lot, since Aran''s usually away doing one thing or another at the kingdom''s beckoning," Liza answered sourly.


    "Are all mages like Aran? Having to work perpetually for the kingdom?" Evin asked.


    "Not really, Aran says that it''s some kind of a debt, or an obligation of some sorts, he couldn''t exin it to me in detail. I hate that part of his life," Liza sighed and then added: "If you ever marry, I suggest you marry a mage. Women don''t like it when their husband has to hide everything from them. Even if they understand the reasons," Liza smiled ambiguously.


    Evin wasn''t worried since he had no ns to marry any time soon. But who knows what would happen. He fell in love with quite a few women during his time as a spirit and he didn''t have any problem admitting those kinds of feelings. Perhaps he would see a woman here on Alvox and fall in love like he always did.


    ''Well, I didn''t face any risk of rejection or anything of the sort back then, so I would just silently observe them and they wouldn''t even know I was there. Who knows what would happen when real feelingse into y?'' Evinmented self-depreciatingly.


    The two approached a fancy looking door and Liza knocked on the door.


    "Come in," a man''s voice sounded from behind the door and Liza entered, holding Evin in her arms.


    Evin could see a prim and proper man, who was checking a stack of papers behind a desk. Evin could see that everything in the room was spotlessly clean. The pile of paper on the man''s desk was stacked up so perfectly, giving Evin a feeling that the man suffered from OCD or something simr.


    ''Guess this is why Liza cleaned me up so meticulously in the morning,'' Evin thought.


    "Mage Kens," Liza greeted the man politely.


    "Ah, Liza, what matter have youe for? Did Aran send word?" the man asked, a slight frown at the mention of Aran''s name. Evin also felt that the man seemed slightly hostile to Liza. Was he like this to everyone he met, or did only Aran receive this kind of special treatment, Evin couldn''t know.


    The mage then looked at Evin with a look that tried to be neutral, but Evin felt like there was something wrong with it.


    "Yes, he asked me to deliver this to you, it''s rted to this boy here, Eviendra Evin for short," Liza said and gave him Aran''s deration.


    Mage Kens nced through the paper and gazed at Evin with a rather... forced scrutinizing gaze?


    ''What the hell''s his problem?'' Evin wondered.


    "Aran''s disciple huh," the man muttered and his pupils seemed to turn into needles. Evin felt that the man showed slight fear at the concept.


    "When have you learned magic?" he started asking Evin some questions.


    "Only yesterday,"


    "What were you able to achieve during that time?"


    "I only checked out the various Worlds yesterday, but I managed to create a slight breeze in a room," Evin answered curtly.


    "Show me," Kens said and Evin proceeded to replicate his achievements.


    "Not bad. I''ll send word to the relevant people. Now go if you don''t have any other business," Kens said.


    "Thank you. Can I ask for one more thing?"


    "What is it?"


    "I wish to request some guards to protect me and my family. They''re 2nd grade citizens," Evin said.


    "Could you tell me the reasoning?"


    Evin exined his situation to Kens and thetter nodded thoughtfully.


    "I''m afraid it won''t be possible to assign your family guards, as they''re only reserved for proper disciples. And that should only be when Aranes back and finalizes the process. As of now, I can''t see the citizenship bureau approving to spend manpower on a half-disciple," Kens said.

 Chapter 18: Magical proficiency and the impending battle

    Chapter 18: Magical proficiency and the impending battle


    Evin nced at Liza and saw that she seemed to be confused as well.


    "Sir, what do you mean by that? When did the rules change?" she asked.


    Kens thought briefly and answered.


    "It wasn''t long ago, an incident of mage on the frontline dying and leaving his dered disciple with no one to take care of urred recently, forcing us to implement this new policy," Kens said perfunctorily.


    Evin felt like the man was making things up and simply didn''t wish to help Evin. While Liza was shocked because of the mention of a mage dying in the frontline and she froze up slightly due to worry.


    "But don''t worry too much. Aran''s should almost be finished with his task and returning in three weeks, you simply have to wait a bit more"


    "What about the safety of my family?"


    "That is a problem for you to solve, I don''t have an obligation towards non-mages," Kens refused Evin''s plea outright.


    A few minutester, Evin was asking Liza about what had just happened at the gates of the Mage Association.


    "What was that?"


    "I don''t know. When a change to the rules happen, they inform all mages without exception. There''s definitely something wrong with this situation," Liza answered.


    ''My bad feelings were correct, there was something wrong with that guy''s attitude towards us. And while the reason doesn''t seem to be me directly, he does seem familiar with me'' Evin thought.


    "What did Aran do to receive such hate?"


    "I don''t know, but it''s always been like this after he came back from Arcvallen Every mage would avoid him like the gue. I tried asking him about it and he said that it had to do with the obligation. I tried to assemble the pieces of the puzzle myself, but the only thing I could think of was that he did something to terrify the other mages greatly," Liza exined.


    "I could tell that Kens looked at me with some wariness when I first entered the room, but his attitudepletely changed when he learned that I was Aran''s disciple. Perhaps he knows of a spell of some sorts that others don''t know about? Do you know what magic he is most proficient at?"


    "Maybe so As for his magic, I think it''s the one that has to do with illusions and thoughts," Liza replied after thinking a bit.


    Evin also felt that Aran was talented at the World of Thoughts. The way he imparted knowledge upon him was quite impressive, especially after his talk of how rare mages from the Conceptual Worlds were in reality.


    "Well, we can talk about thister, what should we do about the safety of your family?" Liza asked.


    "I suppose all we could do is wait for Aran toe back and then decide what to do," Evin said, but had a bad feeling about all of this.


    There was no need for Kens to dy Evin''s citizenship. As the man said himself, it was only a matter of time before Aran came back and made Evin his disciple. Unless there was something else that was brewing in the background.


    Evin fell into thought and realized that this whole thing was a bit too skewered against Evin. It waspletely unnatural for the entirety of the city''s guards to turn the other way just because some innkeeper bribed them. Those kinds of things just didn''t happen. It was also unsure if Norna even had enough money to bribe all those people.


    Evin shook his head, thinking that perhaps he was worrying about it too much, but he couldn''t shake the feeling of worry in his heart, as heand Liza headed back to her home.


    On the way back home, Evin felt like someone was observing him, further forcing the child to think of the worst. He was quite sensitive to these things, after his experience in the World of Time.


    Although he couldn''t really know who was looking at him, but he trusted his instincts to be right.


    Aftering home and talking things over with Lora, they felt that Theor was in a dangerous state and decided to bring him to Aran''s house for the time being. Liza decided to fetch him herself, since it felt safer with her status as a 1st grade citizen.


    After she left, Evin could notice one unassuming bystander start to follow her. And Evin was also sure that he was seeing some faces more than others.


    ''Why would Kens send people to follow us? What the hell did you do, Aran?'' Evin''s paranoia was ring up.


    Since that mage was decisive enough to start stalking him and his surrounding people, it could only mean that Aran''s secret was much heavier than Evin could imagine.


    Bing someone''s disciple meant that they would be learning about whatever the master was best at. If one became the disciple of a World of Thoughts master, then they would most likely learn about the World of Thoughts the most.


    And since Evin was Aran''s disciple on paper, people would assume that Evin would learn of Aran''s secrets. It didn''t matter that Evin became his disciple due to necessity. Evin would instantly be someone to look out for.


    Soon after, Liza came back with the unwilling Theor. Evin could see the same person following after them like a shadow.


    Looking at the whole situation, Evin started to truly hate one person.


    ''Fucking Norna''


    Evin could confidently say that all of his problems stemmed from this guy. If the man could take a rejection like a normal person, Evin would still be babbling to his parents, pretending to be a normal child.


    ''And the worst part is that my only way of sessfully resolving the situation was refused,'' Evin thought with resignation. But he did have one thing that he could do, and that was to practice his magic.


    He had so much free time since he was a toddler, he could spend it all training his magic from now on. For the following week, he spent most of his time training. He asked Liza if he could use the lodestones in the house, and Liza supplied him with Aran''s stash. There were quite a lot of them, so Evin didn''t think that he would run out of them any time soon. Liza also assured that these lodestones recharge themselves over time, so there was no need to feel bad about using them.


    He practiced with them for a while and started to understand some of the rules. There was a cooldown period after every time Evin used his mana-core to his limits. If he ignored the cooldown period and had his mana-core absorb World energies anyway, he would basically be crippled for half an hour or so. He would have trouble breathing and he wouldn''t be able to concentrate much.


    He was also careful to never exceed his mana-core''s limits.


    For the Worlds'' emotional effects, it was pretty much non-existent even with his mana-core filled to the brim, thanks to Two Tales'' perk.


    After a few tries, he could enter the Worlds simply by willing to do so. He didn''t need to chant anything, so it was quite convenient.


    As for his magic World choices, he did not bother with most of the Worlds, only focusing on the World of Storms, the World of Earth, The Dark World and the World of Thoughts. Evin had a surprising level of affinity with the World of Fire, sometimes even going inside it to just watch the World burn before his eyes. But he knew that it was a bit dangerous to practice with this World, so he left it alone for the time being.


    Evin did not like the Worlds of Water and the World of Light, for obvious reasons and as for the World of Space, Time, Emotions and Life, he did not even know where to begin, so he could only give up on working with them.


    He had some luck with the Heavy World, making objects heavier and lighter, as much as his mana-core allowed. He understood how mana demanding the task was when he tried to make things heavier. But he had better luck with trying to make an object lighter. He reckoned that he could make himself light as a feather and start floating as Aran described, but hecked the capacity to do such a thing for now. But he did feel he was close.


    Other than that, he tried to either pull and object to himself, or push and object away from himself... but it didn''t quite work as he intended. He also tried making an object copse into itself, but the task only proved to be a waste of mana. He was even wondering if the World was actually defective, but his meeting with Two Tales did not allow this stray thought to take hold. Two Tales was anything but weak.


    But he did have some sess in the field of magic. After training for a whole day and night, he could finally control the winds from the World of Storms enough to be able to cut a piece of cloth cleanly. Evin unceremoniously named the ability ''Air de''. He tried his best to increase the speed at which the air traveled, while working on his ability to control them precisely. He also tried to do specific things with the air. Such as repeatedly throwing Air des at high frequencies. His idea was to achieve a simr effect of a machine gun, but Evin''s "machine gun" was like a senile old man, talking about his good old days, stuttering, and pausing during most of his talk.


    Another idea was to create ayer of air around himself to function as kind of a foreign object detecting ward, but the concentration required to achieve that was simply beyond Evin''s abilities.


    He decided that this World would be his main way of attacking, so he practiced his aim to perfection. Well, to be honest, it wasn''t that hard to aim with a magical attack. One simply had to will it to attack a certain part of someone''s body and it would be like a homing missile following that part, if one was willful enough.


    But Evin''s proficiency with the World of Earth could only be described as sad. Even though the World did not have any negative effects on him, aside from a slight feeling ofziness, Evin could only feel what it is like to bepletely talentless at something. His idea was that one should use the World of Earth as a defensive method, blocking enemies'' attacks with a giganticyer of earth. Then when enemies get close, he would be able to use various traps heid down beforehand, to swiftly deal with the various enemies he faced.


    He would also be doing all of this while he was running around the battlefield, utilizing his various other magics. He knew that standing still in the middle of a battle was akin to suicide, with all those powerful offensive spells the enemy mages would surely have.


    But the saddest part was, that his air walls were stronger than his earth walls that were made of some rubble. While his air walls would not be harder than an earth wall, it still showed some enthusiasm to fight against the iing projectiles. But the earth walls, on the other hand, would start falling apart the first instant something hit it. And after trying out the World of Earth for a bit, Evin decided to leave it be for a while and focus on other, more interesting Worlds.


    Like the Dark World.


    Fortunately for Evin, he did notck talent in this World. But he could not find a proper way to utilize it. So far, his only ability was to hide in the dark. He could be nigh invisible at night, but he could only wave a white g when it came to hiding during the day. He guessed that he needed to utilize the Luminous World with the Dark World to achieve some sort of a bnce. And that would show him the proper way of mastering the art of stealth.


    Regrettable, when Evin entered the Luminous World to see whether the effect of wanting to be acknowledged by others had reduced, he found that it had actually be more powerful. He did not understand why it happened, but he guessed that in his previous life, he gained an ability that helped him cope with the loneliness. As they said, when someone stays alone for a prolonged period of time, they would be so used to staying alone, and actually start loathing the idea of getting together with someone. Evin didn''t know if he was correct, but that was the only exnation he had for the time being.


    As for the World of Thoughts, Evin couldn''t perform any sorts of mental attacks or memory transnts, but he was able to create an illusion of every other thing he could do with the other Worlds. But for the time being, he was only able to fool someone''s eyes. He could not affect their other senses yet.


    His illusions were like moving images. It was impressive to look at, but no one with a brain would fall for it for long. He tried to fix this w of his, but he had a nagging feeling that he just needed some guidance on it, so he decided to ask Aran when the man came back. His time was strained, so he didn''t really wish to spend too much of his training time on this.


    But thankfully, Evin progressed much faster than others, because he knew of the scientific reasons for most of the phenomena. Perhaps he was so terrible at the World of Earth, because that World simply required his willpower to be high enough. There was nothing scientific about floating rock walls, after all.


    But even as he trained, Evin could see that more and more people started gathering around Liza''s house. He could even spot Norna''s giant figure in some nights, staring at Liza''s house with a huge sneer on his face. Elina''s trauma would re up every time she saw that frightful figure.

 Chapter 19: The Power of a Mage

    Chapter 19: The Power of a Mage


    Liza went to the guards to report this matter, but was only told that she was being too paranoid. Somehow, even the guards of the 1st grade district were ignoring their pleas.


    Liza asked her neighbors to help, but they even refused to open their doors. Most of the people who lived here were knights, mages or rich merchants. The fact that they are allowing a bunch of 2nd grade citizens to terrorize one family could only mean that someone was ordering them to look the other way.


    At this point, Evin understood that there was something terribly wrong with their whole situation. Norna was obviously using fear tactics against the family. They were basically like cats ying around with their food before pouncing on it.


    ''That mage, Kens must''ve told them that Aran will be gone for at least a two more weeks, or they wouldn''t dare to y around like this,'' Evinmented.


    Technically, the family had two more weeks to prepare for the intruders toe in, but no one could think of anything to do to help their situation.


    Everyone in the family was scared out of their wits. Liza couldn''t connect with Aran for at least one more week and no one in the city seemed like they wanted to help them. Liza even thought of running away from the city, but Evin managed to convince her out of this dumb decision.


    Instead, Evin asked Liza if there were any devices inside the house they could use, just in case when someone came inside. Liza took out a few magical devices and exined their functions to Evin.


    One would create a stonewall shield with an adjustable size. At its maximum size, it could cover the whole corridor. Another was something akin to a storage device with food inside it. The only offensive options were a device that could shoot three World of Storms spells a day and a device that could turn into some sort of miniature golem.


    The three des were nothing like Evin''s own, fully capable of mowing through a group of enemies. It was named Thunder de, and it was a much better version of Evin''s air de. The golem was apparently a single use beast-type golem. Liza couldn''t know what exactly it did, but Evin reckoned that it was pretty powerful.


    Evin refused to stay passive in this situation, so he asked his family to blockade the windows and leave only the front door untouched. He did not want enemies trying to crawl through the windows. It would be best if they all came from the front door in an orderly way. There was a long corridor that reached the front door, so if Evin timed it right, he could kill a few people with one of the Thunder des.


    Also, for the past few days, he was contemting whether the Cosmics were trustworthy or not.


    Judging from his own experience, any individual who focused too much on money could not be trusted in general. Even though Rith seemed to be a very well-mannered Cosmic, it could also be said that Evin acted extremely well-mannered during that conversation as well. One could not judge people based on their business faces.


    But after being pressured by the Norna''s men for a week, Evin decided to to talk to them after a few days. But at the end of the first week, a loud bang resounded from the front door. The door seemed to hold on, but Norna''s loudugh resounded afterwards.


    "Hahaha, Elina! Come on out! And bring the kid out as well. I''ll take you and the mages will take the kid. Come on, I know you felt good when we were having our fun! Too bad your grandpa came and ruined the fun for us! But this time, your grandpa''s not here to crash the party!" Norna said, as he slurred some of his words.


    ''Fucking rapist...'' Evin cursed, hearing the man speak.


    Elina shuddered at the mention of what happened. Her knees gave out, and she fell down to the ground and started sobbing uncontrobly. Lora tried tofort her, but she herself was having trouble keeping herself calm, so her actions weren''t that effective.


    Evin on the other hand was much calmer than the rest of the family. Sure, he was fearful of what would happen, but he was still a mage, albeit a veryckluster one.


    ''Did someone rile him up before he came here? Was it with the World of Emotions? Or is he just drunk?'' Evin thought after hearing the man speak.


    "How dare you threaten the family of a mage?! Do you know what happens to 2nd grades who harm 1st grades?!" Liza shouted from behind the door.


    Evin and the rest of his family had gathered behind the door at this point.


    "Hah, Liza, you''re not a 1st grade citizen anymore. Just a fucking 3rd grade whose pir of support does not exist anymore," Norna seemed to sneer from behind the door.


    "What? W-what do you mean?" Liza''s voice shook with fear.


    "I asked someone I knew from the Recruitment ce. Told me that Aran died in the South apparently, his body was pulled apart by the fucking Myrmis," Norna said with a jeeringugh.


    "No You''re lying, they would''ve told me if that was so," Liza said with an unbelieving face.


    "Yeah, I suppose they would''ve if they cared. But your current situation doesn''t really look like they care that much," Norna said, and another loud bang came from the door.


    "Hah! This door''s tough! It only took one hit to smash apart Theor''s door! Come here boys, let''s get this over with," Norna said, and another louder bang resounded.


    Evin held the lodestones that he received from Liza tightly in his hands. He entered the Worlds of Storm and Thoughts one by one and filled his mana-core to its utmost limits. A slight freeing feeling breezed through his heart, and Evin could feel himself bing slightly more quick-witted.


    This was another things that he found out. If one had an ounce of Thought energy inside themselves, they would find it slightly simr to how they would feel inside the World of Thoughts.


    "Liza, please hand me the shielding device," Evin said in a serious voice.


    "What?"


    "They''re probably lying about Aran''s death. It''s most likely their excuse to execute this whole thing. And when Aranes back, they''ll me it on the person who was supposed to ry information. Don''t believe that man''s lies"


    "Are you sure?" Liza asked through her tears.


    "Yes, now I need to create that stone wall in front of us. From what I could gather, luckily, we won''t be facing mages here. Only normal people. I don''t know why mages can''t attack us, but I''m sure it has something to do with the obligations and rules," Evin continued.


    In the background, the sound of a door mming could be heard repeatedly.


    "What are you talking about, boy?" Theor shouted.


    "I''m telling you, we have to fight. We''ve prepared for this the past few days and now is the time to protect our own lives," Evin said.


    Theor and Lora was thoroughly shocked by Evin. The boy was mature and smart, sure, but he was usually sweet and soft.


    "I''ll try to hold them off to the best of my abilities when they enter, but when they get close, you have to activate the device with the Thunder de, okay?"


    "Are you sure you can hold them off?" Theor asked with worry.


    "I''m a mage, remember? Even if I''m only almost a year old, I can still hold my own againstmoners," Evin replied confidently.


    "Sure, I''ll sick ''em good with the thunder de or whatever," Theor said and picked up a cone-shaped magical device with a thin mouth on its front. One that was facing towards Theor himself.


    "Dad, you''re pointing it towards yourself," Evin pointed out, and the man hurriedly turned it around in a panic.


    "Liza, please, the shield," Evin urged.


    Receiving it from thedy, Evin conjured a stone wall that would cover the entirety of the corridor, while leaving a thing gap for Evin to look through. Just in time, one of Norna''s boys broke down the door and started running at Evin and the rest.


    ''Wish Norna himself would start running at us himself, but, sadly, he''s too smart to run headfirst into a house of a mage,'' Evinmented.


    Evin immediately threw two air des at a man that came from behind the door. He willed the des to find its way to the assant''s eyes. Since Evin had no shortage of hatred towards the assants, both of the des hit its intended target.


    "Argh, my eyes!" the man bellowed and started struggling on the ground. Blood dripped from behind the man''s hands, which were holding his eyes. Another tried to run at the stone wall, but received the same treatment. Two blinded people.


    Evin could see that the rest of the group started hesitating slightly.


    Evin''s magic wasn''t powerful enough to kill anyone and Evin himself could barely move. But he could still be vicious. Would one be afraid of a gentle giant or a vicious rabid goblin? Sure, the giant could probably smash you without effort between their hands, but more often than not, you will die to the goblin.


    Evin could notice that his own family started to look at him weirdly, but he couldn''t care about that for now.


    "Boys, protect your eyes and charge towards them! He can''t hurt you through your skin! It''s a straight run, so there''s no worries of getting lost! Everyone gather around! The mage boy can''t hit every one of you! Don''t you want those gold coins for yourselves?! Whoever manages to get me the two kids will receive 5 gold coins!" Norna ordered.


    ''Why is this dude so fucking rich?!'' Evin cursed, but had no time for stray thoughts. He could notice that the enemies were gathering behind the door, so he recharged his mana-core to the brim and waited patiently while conjuring a big spell that would use up all of his mana-core.


    ''It''s a big wave this time, but thankfully, the effect that the World of Emotions has on these people seem to dull their already rotting wits,'' Evin found a positive aspect in the dreaded situation. If Evin was out there trying to break through, he would have built a shield or blockade of sorts to take the brunt of the attacks.


    "Charge!" Norna ordered from behind the door. Sadly, Evin couldn''t see him in this wave of attackers as well. The runners were holding their hands in front of their eyes tightly, practically running blind. Shouting and screaming all the way.


    Immediately, Evin fired off his prepared spell at the feet of the foremost runner. It was a much sharper and bigger Air de. It whooshed through the air and hit the man''s legs and the runner could hear a cracking sound from his feet and a wave of unbearable pain afterwards.


    Evin''s spell could not cut off his legs entirely, but it could definitely cut through the skin and muscles to reach the bones. The impact would cripple it, and the man could only fall forward and be an obstacle to jump over for the rest of the runners. Since they were holding their arms in front of their faces, trying to save themselves from getting blinded, some of them tripped over the man, creating an even bigger mess in the corridors.


    Evin looked at Theor next to him to instruct him when to shoot the Thunder de, but saw the man''s hands shaking uncontrobly.


    Shaking his head, Evin took the device for himself and waited for the perfect moment to shoot the spell, as he slowly recharged his mana-core. He couldn''t throw another one of those huge Air des, since that would render him unable to fight at all. But he could recharge his mana-core so he wouldn''t need to waste time on recharging after the cooldown period ends.


    The first row of the runners were nearing the stone wall and Evin could see that the corridor behind them was practically filled with enemies. Evin could even see some other peopleing in from behind the door.


    Just as one of the screaming men reached the stone wall and his hands reached forward to pull Evin from behind the gap, Evin aimed the Thunder de as horizontally as he could and pressed the button on the device.


    The crackling of electricity sounded from the device and Evin could see something bright as lighting forming at its mouth. A momentter, the ear-shattering roar of a thunder sounded and a wide projectile with the shape of a moon shot out from inside the device at unbelievable speeds.


    The Thunder de mowed through the piling mass of flesh in the corridor, cleanly cutting in half anyone who was unlucky enough to stand in its way. As it went right through the middle of the corridor, everyone who was in a standing position was obliterated from the face of Alvox. A litter of limbs and cut off bodies filled the corridor and the vile stench of blood and guts entered everyone''s noses.


    Silence filled the bloodstained house and the people surrounding it.

 Chapter 20: Conclusion

    Chapter 20: Conclusion


    Kens, who was watching the assault on the house unfold from one corner inside it, was determined that he was doing the right thing.


    "That boy has to die. His Air Needles showed his ruthlessness and the Thunder de showed his disregard for human life. If he learns Aran''s ursed spell on top of it, there will only be destruction in his path," he muttered under his breath.


    "On top of that, he seems to be much more talented than Aran as well. Even if he''s a Child of the Empress, it is obvious from the past week, that it was his first time casting magic. We could safely say that he was amon person in his previous life But the swiftness of his learning isparable to some high-mages who were reborn," another female magemented from the side.


    Kens felt immense killing pressure building up inside him, but the familiar feeling of the tentacles of a something grasping at his heart forced him to forget about any thought of killing the dangerous boy with his own hands.


    "If only we were in Arcvallen we could''ve hired assassins to do our jobs and we wouldn''t be stuck with a disorganized mob like this one," Kensmented.


    "Do we give up, then? There''s practically no one left to assault the house," the other mage asked.


    "No, since things havee to this, we can''t give up halfway. I''ll rouse the big guy and the few others who were left of the mob and you will give them protection for the Thunder de, there shouldn''t be many more charges in the device," Kens said.


    "Are you sure it will be fine?" the mage asked with worry.


    "It should. Technically, this is a fight between 2nd grade citizens and we''re just unrted mages who took pity on one side. I''m only boosting their morale a bit. It doesn''t count as directly participating in the fight," Kens said, as if convincing something inside himself.


    "Then I''ll clean up the corridor as well. It''s too bad to leave them rotting in such a narrow ce," the other mage followed behind, spouting out some random excuse.


    Even though the two spoke inside Liza''s house, no one could hear the two speak, not to mention see them.


    There were two lines of pure destruction on both sides of the corridor, and everyone who witnessed the power of such a weapon could only stare nkly at the aftermath. Evin could see that the spell also hit the house at the opposite side of the street,pletely demolishing it.


    Norna and the remaining four assants were thanking the Empress for their luck of not entering that corridor first.


    The three women in the house were vomiting their innards out at the gut-wrenching sight.


    "Empress almighty" muttered Theor as he watched the destruction that the device had wrought. And after realizing that it was his own 8-month-old child who wrought it upon them, he could not help but think of Evin with fear.


    Half-expecting his child to smile like a demon, he nced at Evin, but thankfully saw that the boy was more shocked than himself.


    ''That''s not a Thunder de, that''s a fucking sma de!'' Evin was screaming internally.


    Judging from the name, Evin only expected the spell to cut in half the first person, and then paralyze the others with electricity, even though the description said otherwise. Never in his life, he thought that it would go through everyone like a sickle mowing down grass.


    But he didn''t have enough time to think as the cut down bodies of the attackers begun to float by themselves and promptly fly out of the corridor. The blood of the fallen all disappeared from the floors like the previous carnage never happened.


    "What is happening?" Evin muttered, but then heard an animalistic cry from outside the door. Judging from the voice, it seemed to be Norna who was shouting like an animal. A momentter, few other cries followed.


    Just as Evin was wondering what had happened, Norna and four other men appeared at the end of the corridor, wielding various weapons. Their eyes were bloodshot, and they were drooling at their mouths. Evin understood that there was definitely something wrong with them, so he didn''t hesitate to send out the strongest Storm attack his mana-core could muster.


    The attack hit Norna straight in the eyes, but the man only looked like he was hit with a banana, instead of an attack that could reach someone''s bones.


    ''They''re reinforced with something!'' Evin panicked.


    The five men started running towards the stone wall.


    "Fuck it!" Evin said and aimed the deadly magical device at the enemies.


    When the crazed Norna ran half of the corridor, Evin shot the Thunder de at the enemies.


    But this time, the deadly weapon only managed to slow down Norna and the others, without even leaving a single scratch on their bodies. But Evin could see that there was a thinyer of something covering the men, and it was slowly regenerating itself. Evin did not hesitate and shot the final Thunder de.


    This time, the areas of the barrier that were destroyed by the previous Thunder de and could not regenerate itself in time wasn''t able block some parts of the lethal spell, making a mess of the assants'' bodies. But the enemies still hadn''t fallen dead, only holding their cut up parts with a grimace on their faces.


    Evin took the final device from Liza''s side and pressed on the button that would''ve activated it.


    The magical device transformed into a metal panther of some sorts. Its base body was made of a sleek ck metal, and its ws and fangs had a silver hue to it. The tiny metal sheets that made up its body were connected tightly like the insides of a brigandine armor. But Evin did not have the time to be impressed by the metal golem.


    "Go attack those five, they''re threatening your master''s family!" Evin shouted.


    The metal panther ran through the stone wall''s gap and ran towards the men. Unlike Evin, it seemed to see where the assants were protected with the invisible barrier, opting to attack their more vulnerable spots.


    The injured men could not keep up with the golem and could only struggle futilely before they were ripped to shreds.


    Evin, seeing the destruction that the golem was bringing, sighed in relief, thinking that everything was over.


    But suddenly, after the metal golem finished off the third assant, it suddenly started floating in the air and was engulfed byrge amounts of water. The water then turned to ice, effectively putting the golem out ofmission.


    "Fucking hell!" Evin screamed.


    The mages couldn''t attack Evin and the rest of his family, but that didn''t apply to the golem. Norna and the other assant walked towards Evin with confidence now. Their wounds were closing up rapidly, even though with a slight deformation at some ces.


    "Run!" he shouted to the others, and he himself entered the World of Thoughts to stock up on Thought energy.


    The rest of the family had left one window that was weakly blocked, so like they discussed beforehand, Lora and Liza picked up the two kids, while Theor worked on dismantling the blockade.


    Norna and the other guy made short work of the stone wall and begun approaching the family.


    "What''s taking so long!?"


    "I can''t open this! The nails aren''t budging a single bit!" Theor shouted in reply.


    The mages had reinforced every part of the house beforehand, so the family couldn''t escape.


    Evin began to panic for real this time, as his backup n was rendered useless. As ast measure, he used illusions to distract them, but the two men ignored them like they knew exactly what were illusions and what was reality.


    Slowly, they approached the family with grins on their faces. Evin could see Norna eyeing Elina, while licking his lips.


    Evin started to hate this man from the deepest part of his heart. After living for three centuries and reviving, he refused to die at the hands of a rapist. He clutched every lodestone that he held in his pockets and slowly started gathering the energy of the World of Fire inside his mana-core. Very quickly, Evin''s tiny mana-core was filled with such energy, but Evin continued to absorb the energy of the World of Fire.


    He could feel his mana-core cracking from the overburden, threatening to explode into countless pieces. Evin had to use the energy just before it exploded, or else everything would be wasted.


    ''Even if my mana-core explodes, it will be worth it if I can kill them,'' Evin thought through the pain in his heart.


    But just as Evin was about to release his bottled up energy, a shining golden light appeared in front of him and what looked like the portal started forming in midair.


    "No, why is he here already?! Kill the boy now!" A voice resounded from somewhere in the house and Norna lunged at Evin to strike with his axe.


    Evin did not hesitate any longer and released the inferno that he built up in his mana-core. The st that would have destroyed Liza''s housepletely, only served to stall the lunging man for a single moment, as the barrier on the man seemed many times stronger now.


    But that moment was all the man needed to appear from the portal and block the deadly strike. The neer was not fazed by the inferno that Evin created, as the tongues of the me would dissipate after reaching his body.


    "Quite a warm wee you prepared for me, isn''t it, my lord wisdom drake?" the man joked through the smoke and dirt that Evin''s final spell created. But the child he was addressing could barely move himself, as he pain he was feeling now was like his heart just exploded. But even though the pain was very real, the explosion that Evin felt didn''t seem real, or physical, so Evin was still awake, his eyes wide open and face contorting from the agony.


    But Liza, noticing who the man was, cried in happiness.


    "Aran! You''re alive!"


    "Of course I''m alive, but I have to take care of some matters first. Lord Abvelgail, please," Aran said.


    "It is already done," a voice resounded in the room.


    Evin could see a cosmic feline appear from thin air. The neer carried himself in a regal manner, surveying the surroundings calmly and unhurriedly. The stars on his body were white and dazzling. Compared to the orange stars that Evin saw on Rith''s body, they looked much brighter and felt much more powerful.


    "Since you''ve attacked me first, it means that I can defend myself, right?" Aran said to Norna and effortlessly punched the twomoners in the head, easily bashing their heads in with those casual swings. He then started taking on a silver hue in Evin''s eyes.


    "Shit, we can''t get away!"


    "The Cosmic locked the space here!"


    Two voices came from inside the house again, one male and one female. Evin felt fearful that he was never able to realize that there were intruders in the house, who were simply observing everything, with no one ever noticing them.


    "Kens, Nona, so it was you two" Aran muttered with a dangerous grin on his face.


    "They others are part of this as well! Will you kill them as well?" Kens shouted as he enabled every anti-World of Thought methods he knew of.


    "Hah, you think me an idiot? If I kill so many, only death will await me at the hands of a high-mage. But if it''s only you two I kill, it will serve as a proper warning for the others," Aran said and threw two silver beams at the two mages.


    Evin felt like he could see human faces in front of the beams.


    "Just kill him!" the woman shouted and directed a plethora of ominous looking ice needles toward Aran. The man followed suit and earth pellets that looked like drills flew towards Aran at high speeds.


    But none of them could reach Aran, as a huge portal appeared in front of the family and sent every single projectile back to the two mages.


    Kens and Nona easily took care of the counterattack, but they felt powerless after seeing the sight.


    ''If the Cosmic actively helps him, there''s nothing for us to do,'' were theirst thoughts before the ghastly spell of Aran hit the two of them in their chests.


    The anti-World of Thoughts measures they''ve employed were all breached like they didn''t even exist, and the two started to feel a foreign presence take root in their minds. A great struggle to control their own bodies ensued inside their head.


    Two minutes of stillnesster, the two silently pulled out two daggers from somewhere and stabbed themselves in the hearts in perfect unison.


    ''Guess that is pretty scary,'' Evin saw the double suicide and had another look at Aran.


    The man was much more buffpared to when he left for the war, and honestly, he looked quite handsome.


    The pain of having his mana-core explode was killing Evin, so his mind started thinking about random things to distract himself from it.


    ''I wonder how this would all look like when Aran was still the thin, lean, schrly Aran He would definitely look like some minor evil character, but since he looks gritty and muscr now, he seems cool as hell. Guess looks are everything in the end. Maybe it''s also because he saved my life,'' random thoughts flew through Evin''s head as his consciousness started rxing after everything that had happened.


    And silently, he fell asleep.

 Chapter 21: Contracts

    Chapter 21: Contracts


    Evin was unconscious for almost a week afterwards. When he finally woke up, he had to be hospitalized for almost a month, as the pain and trauma his body was experiencing after having his mana-core explode wasn''t something he could survive at the leisure of his own home.


    His family woulde to visit him asionally, but Evin could see some traces of suspicion and hesitation in their faces when they talked to Evin. Well, it would be obvious after what Evin had done to those men. And ording to Theor, it seemed like Lora and Elina still had some nightmares about that night.


    But Evin had a feeling that his family wished to ignore those dubious points about Evin and pretend that nothing out of the ordinary happened for the time being. Evin did not mind ying dumb alongside them, but he had a feeling that they all had to face the problem in the future.


    Aran also came at some point and congratted Evin on bing a pseudo 1st grade citizen.


    "How were you able toe back two weeks earlier than expected?" Evin asked the man.


    "My service was already finished. I was just preparing to traverse the distance normally, through a military transport device, but I went dozens of gold coins into debt and rented a Cosmic for an hour. Well, you can guess what happened next, quite easily,"


    Renting mages sounded a bit hical to Evin, but it also sounded exactly like what a Cosmic Feline would do.


    "How did you know that Kens would take such drastic actions against us?"


    "Well, as I''ve hinted, I didn''t actually know what was going to happen, although I had a bad feeling about everything. But I also have a security beacon on my body that notifies me when the magical devices that you use are activated. After that, I informed my contracted Cosmic and started negotiating a deal with them," Aran exined.


    "By the way, I always wanted to ask this of you Are the Cosmics trustworthy?"


    "They are trustworthy. They will try their best to get a better deal out of every character theymunicate with; but after they make the contract, they will not break it. They may seem a bit questionable at first, but you must understand that they are a race that has connections with every mage in the kingdom. If wordes out that they openly swindle their customers, their prestige will plummet greatly"


    "Is that so? Then it''s great if it is true. What else do you know?"


    "They prefer to keep their distance from the other races, strictly keeping their rtionship to business. I have heard of some humans receiving guidance from them, but I personally don''t know how Perhaps one simply has to pay enough money. Honestly, they are too elusive. But one thing is for certain. If you can offer enough benefits, they will do anything in their power to get them from you. The Feline''s motto is: ''Everything can be bought with money'', after all," Aran replied.


    Evin was delighted to hear such news. He would be able to implement his ns much easier with this confirmation.


    "One more question, could you tell me about how the economy for Mages work?"


    "As you know, most normal people use bronze, silver and gold coins. But us mages mostly use mana lodestones. What do you know about them?"


    "Practically nothing, I only know it stores mana inside itself somehow and allows mages to absorb the energy inside. I also noticed that it recharges over time," Evin replied.


    "Hmm, something like that. As you probably know, lodestone is another way of naming a ma. So, mana lodestones are exactly that. They absorb mana from the air, and the mana sticks to it like moss. After a long time, you can find that some part of the mana has actually be part of the lodestone. There are two principal ways to differentiate lodestones: quality and size. Size is quite obvious, the bigger the better. For quality, we categorize lodestones into three tiers: dust, rock and crystal"


    "Dust is the mostmonly found state of mana lodestones. Over time, they would umte and turn into the rock state. A few decadester, it would be crystal. But, as I''ve mentioned earlier, you can use the Heavy World to elerate the process somewhat"


    "So, what''s the main form of currency for mages? Lodestones?"


    "No, mages make up only about 10 percent of the total popce, so while lodestones are a little expensive, everyone still uses gold and silver. There are some periods when lodestones are more popr than gold, but such periods will neverst because of one simple reason: every century, all mana lodestones are used up to create World cores. Soon after, they will reappear in the wild, making it so that any kind of umtion of lodestones is meaningless."


    "What? Why?"


    "The reasons are unknown. But you will probably learn many other theories regarding this phenomenon in the Academy," Aran shrugged.


    "Anyway, the lodestone market is simply too chaotic. Sometimes, an important discovery appears, and it requires enormous amounts of lodestones to research. Then suddenly, lodestones which used to cost a few silvers would actually start costing gold coins, or vice versa. So I don''t rmend you invest too much in them"


    "One more question, is there a way to make a contract that is impossible, or at least extremely hard to break?"


    "What are you trying to do Sigh, there are. There are a few and I will tell you about the most safe one first, though they''re practically impossible to find. It''s called the Velvet Contract. You know that the Final Empress'' original name is the Empress Velvet, right? She used to be called that for about three centuries, but then her other name, Final Empress, became much more popr in the countries under her rule. It also sounded much cooler. Anyway, the Velvet Contract is basically the same as swearing on the name of the Empress. If you fail to uphold your end of the contract, you will instantly be smitten with divine punishment and die. The other party will be informed of your death as well. The problem with this contract is the how rare it is. The Empress only gives out a few hundred of these contracts every few decades, and it vastly depends on her mood. So you can be sure that only very wealthy people would have the chance to use it," Aran concluded.


    "Are there more of such contracts?" Evin asked. Unbreakable contract is good and all, but something actually obtainable would be good.


    "Yes, yes. I''m getting to those. They''re called the World contracts. This time, you swear on the name of World Authorities. Failure to uphold the contract results in you being smitten by a slightly smaller and kind of survivable divine punishment. Though if you do manage to survive, you will find that you became unable to use said World. You have a chance to fix your rtionship with the World Authority afterwards, but it''s quite a slim chance. This contract is not rare, but whether or not you will be granted the contract will depend on the World Authority''s decision"


    "Okay, thanks for your help, Aran" Evin remarked politely.


    "I should''ve stayed back and let you keep acting like a kid. Look how mature and uninteresting you are," Aran thenmented.


    "Humph" Evin snorted and said his goodbyes.


    "If you hit a huge deal with the Cosmics, you owe me about 180 gold coins, alright? Do you know how expensive that metal panther was? Not to mention my house and every other device in it. I saved your life and everything, too"


    "Sure, sure," Evin sighed.


    The two exchanged pleasantries and Evin was left alone in the hospital room again.


    Evin didn''t bother asking about Aran''s deadly spell. Judging from how mages acted, Evin could tell that they weren''t able to indulge certain information to others freely.


    ''Well, all things considered, I should focus on obtaining more gold for the time being,'' Evin concluded.


    "But I guess I should do it when I get released from this ce..." he muttered.

 Chapter 22: Bait

    Chapter 22: Bait


    The weekter, Evin was released from the hospital and was finally released. When he saw his home again, everything was fixed like the vandalism had never happened.


    The family resumed their bakery business like usual, so there was a queue of customers outside as well. Winter had just passed, so everything was much warmer than usual.


    He went to his own room and informed his family that he would be practicing some magic. His mana-core hadpletely restored itself. It even seemed a bit faster and bigger than before.


    Evin then shut the door of his room and started finalizing his ns. He first thought deeply about the information that he was going to offer to see whether he had forgotten something important about it all. He knew that a lot of people tended to forget misceneous information.


    He also tried to remember the conversation with Rith and Aran, going over each word carefully. Hoping to see if he misremembered something.


    He then formted the speech he was about to give. He listed all the points that he will offer in his head. Going over them again and again until he was confident in it.


    He went over the entire n one more time, just in case.


    Finding nothing wrong, he held the small pendant he received from the Feline.


    Evin''s tiny hands clutched the ne briefly, hesitation apparent on his face.


    ''I really just want to take it easy and gradually build up my proficiency, but just as Two Tales said, old ns can''t keep up with new circumstances''


    ''I do hope everything goes well though'' Evin thought and went with the procedure.


    After receiving energy from the World of Space, the pendant shone brightly and tried to float in front of Evin. The child panicked and removed the pendant from his neck hurriedly, lest he got himself caught in whatever that was going to happen and get strangled.


    Freed from Evin''s reach, the pendant started to spin faster and faster, until eventually, it broke apart into a firework of orange. The sound of soft bells permeated the area, momentarily stunning Evin.


    For a little while, nothing happened afterwards. Evin could only silently sit and wait for the Feline''s arrival. A few minutes passed, but Evin was patient.


    "Really did not think that you would call me so early. So, how did our little Child receive enough lodestones to contract me?" Rith intoned yfully.


    As Evin was wondering where the voice wasing from, a paw poked his shoulders and he turned around to see Rith floating beside him.


    "I was actually hoping to make the lodestones off of yourpany," replied Evin calmly.


    "Oh, tell me about it. I have heard of my kin offering their riches to some humans But those sound like practical legends to me. I wonder how will you achieve such a surprise," Rith purred.


    "I want to sell your kin a business idea. I''m sure you will be very interested. Are you familiar with banking?" Evin could see the same sharp glint appearing in Rith''s eyes.


    Of course, Evin''s n was to introduce information from Earth into Alvox. He also knew how lucrative the banking business could be.


    Obviously, the biggest advantage he had going for him was all the knowledge he brought from Earth. He would be a fool to not abuse it.


    He was also trying to save time as much as possible. One of his goals was to solve all his financial problems in one go, never having to worry about money ever again.


    "Yes, of course! Organizations created to give loans for various projects, right?"


    From Rith''s answer, Evin could guess that savings ounts and other rted services were not poprized yet. Of course, it would''ve been even better if the concept of banks weren''t invented in the first ce. Though he knew how unlikely that case would be. People hated giving away their money, especially so if they weren''t able to get anything back from it.


    "You are absolutely right. Now, can you please tell me about the Elmes Group''s experience in the industry of banking? Surely, such a vast organization like yourselves must have dipped their paws in many different fields, no?" Evin''s answers stayed polite, never sounding arrogant or confident. Though the pun might''ve been unnecessary.


    "Hmm. We have tried to make banks work, but most of our investments ended up in failures. We believed we chose trustworthy borrowers, but reality taught us a harsh lesson. The more sessful one was, the more greedy they would be. Most used the loans as a way to find quick cash, and when it was time to pay it back, they would simply give away their coterals. Most of them being things that are useless for us. It was just a glorified way for us to buy old property, basically," she said, then paused briefly before continuing.


    "Afterwards, we decided to go hard on the coterals. Creating contracts that were very harsh on failed investments. Probably wasn''t that great of an idea in hindsight? After that, no one really dared to approach us. There was also the problem of dwindling capital. We wanted to invest in some big and promising projects, but they all took much too long for the capital to survive. So after a few years, we gave up on that idea"


    The situation was even better than Evin expected. For the earliest attempts at banks, they would often only be used by the wealthy. But more often than not, they would be doomed to fail, because the wealthy were not that motivated toplete their projects they applied for. It was much better for middle-ss, or even lower-ss citizens to receive loans, provided that their projects were doable, of course.


    But more importantly, they didn''t realize that deposit and savings ounts could be used as capital. On Earth, such an idea surfaced in Ancient Greek, in the form of deposit ounts of <em>Trapezitica</em>-s, which were the ancient Greek naming of banks. There were instances of countries safe-guarding people''s money for a fee, but only in the 1500s, a proper system thatbined loans and various ounts, like in Ancient Greek, resurfaced in Europe.


    "Well then, how about I offer you some solutions regarding the problems you faced?" Evin said as amiably as he could.


    "Do tell" Rith purred. Focused and serious now. She was not one to belittle someone based on appearances. Especially a Child of the Empress. She was extremely knowledgeable about the things that they were capable of. There was a saying in Alvox: ''<em>If something contains the name of the Empress, it''s either a scam or the deal of your lifetime''</em>.


    "Now, let''s talk about the problem of failed investments. First of all, you must include the middle-ss in your customer list. They are the ones who are desperate to make their projects work. The rich and wealthy already have enough capital for most projects to be sessful, most of them simply do not attempt to make it work. But the middle-ss, on the other hand, they are the ones who need those loans for their projects to work. I assure you that they will try a at least a few dozen times harder than the wealthy. The middle ss is also much more populous than the wealthy"


    Evin spoke in a confident and assured manner. He tried his best to not use weak words, such as ''perhaps'', ''maybe'' or ''I''m not sure''. He instead used imposing words like ''must'' or ''will'' and ''will not'', even at the cost of sounding arrogant.


    "Secondly, you must give out the money in increments. Have the applicants divide their project into smaller pieces, so that you will be able to supply them with the right amount of money at the right times. Don''t just give all the money all at once, check the progress of the projects consistently. Some humans be extremely irresponsible when they suddenly receive huge amounts of money. They feel as if they have a safety with all that money they have"


    "I also have a way to guess which projects will work and which project won''t. But I''ll have to tell the method after we have created a contract" Evin concluded. Obviously, his n was topare the projects with products or services that worked back on Earth. He would not be feel shame about abusing his knowledge.

 Chapter 23: Interview?

    Chapter 23: Interview?


    Pondering about the matter for a few seconds, she finally continued:


    "Those do sound usible. And we have thought about investing in the middle ss. But there is still the problem of capital. If we add the middle ss into the mix, then our capital will definitely not be enough for all those projects. How will you solve that problem"


    "I will tell you the solution after you have talked to your superior. Please tell him or her that I am nning to create a World Contract to ensure my safety," Evin added at the end. He was afraid that Rith would be offended with his offer, but to his surprise, Rith immediately agreed to contact her superior.


    Obviously, Evin could not reveal all his cards at once. Since he was the one offering, he could only bait the Feline''s attention with some information, hoping they would take the bait.


    "Okay, please wait a few moments" she said then pulled out a sun shaped pendant. And this time, it was white colored and much brighter than the one Evin received.


    She then injected the energy of the World of Space into the pendant. The pendant created a white-colored explosion. The sound it made was much deeper than the orange pendant Evin received.


    "He should being here soon afterwards"


    "It is very pleasing to work with you" Evin said, happy with Rith. He was prepared to spend some effort trying to convince Rith to concede her position as the negotiator, but everything went much smoother than expected.


    "Perhaps it is because we Cosmic Felines have a much clearer societal hierarchy. I am well aware that I don''t have the rights to make decisions on this matter. I can only ry the matter to my boss and have him take over the problem," she exined calmly, guessing what Evin was thinking about.


    "Such a nice system. Wish we humans could implement that sessfully," the childmented.


    "Don''t you already have one? With the kings, lords and chieftains. And all the vassals under them," Rith asked.


    Evin wondered why she would ask such things. Surely she was not that nave? Evin decided to not mind it too much and answered her questions dutifully.


    "Well, we do have such a system, but it bes a bit hard when all the workers want their bosses'' positions. They want to take all the credit for themselves, so their boss'' superiors would take notice of them, having them rece their boss. That was a bit of a mouthful to exin, but I hope you got the gist of it. The workers then decide to act on matters that they have no right or education to decide upon, resulting in some important matters receiving a much less qualified treatment," Evin answered. He thought about the matter a bit more, then added.


    "There is also another way of looking at it. The workers might not want to trouble their bosses with what they deem small matters. Or perhaps their bosses themselves instruct them to not bother them with such small matters. So, afraid of their bosses scoldings, the workers hide or chase away some of these problems, which could have been actually very important ones," Evin finally managed to articte.


    He wasn''t that good at making things up on the fly, so he wasn''t sure if the Feline understood him. He himself wasn''t exactly sure of what he was saying.


    "Hmm" Rith acknowledged neutrally.


    Rith''s response made Evin a bit curious, making him wonder if he said something wrong.


    "Tell me about your family," Rith asked suddenly.


    "I live with my parents and a ve named Elina, as you can see. We work a bakery here. I also have a grandfather and a sister, but they''ve left to let my sister Sasha receive the blessing of St"


    "Ah, the tradition of the Northerners. Makes sense. When will they be back?"


    "I''m not sure. They''ve left when my mother was in theter stages of pregnancy. My sister should have turned seven years old a month ago, so I''m guessing they''reing back in eight or nine monthster. Assuming nothing went wrong with their trip, of course," Evin answered.


    "Will you also be going with your grandfather to the North in six years?" Rith asked.


    "As long as nothing out of the ordinary happens," Evin answered perfunctorily.


    "Ah well, we''ll see soon enough. Will you be aiming to be a mage, if you''ve sessfully sold your business idea, or will you enter the business world?"


    "I was hoping to solve most of my financial problems with this move. With that, I will not have to worry about money for a long time. If I am sessful with this sale, I will dedicate my time to my magic studies"


    "Makes sense. How do you feel about us, Cosmics?" Rith then asked, cocking her head.


    ''Is she interviewing me?'' Evin suddenly thought, after receiving so many questions.


    "I have only met one cosmic in my life, and judging from my experience so far, your race is extremely pleasant to converse with," Evin answered.


    The answer seemed to make her pleased, as she purred in a satisfied manner. Complimenting can never go wrong. Unless, of course, you say it in a certain way that sounds insulting.


    ''Don''t be sarcastic with your girlfriends, guys. If you have to, at least be sarcastic in an eptable amount''


    But Evin would constantly remind himself to be wary of Rith. Even though she acted extremely amiably for the time being, that could change in the blink of an eye. Evin couldn''t read people''s minds after all. A proper amount of caution was best in everything.


    Evin still felt like this move of his was a bit too risky. But the things that happened to him after he was born were way out of his control, giving him a constant sense of urgency to do something for his safety.


    "Would you mind telling me about how Cosmic Feline society works?"


    "I apologize, but I cannot," Rith replied without skipping a beat.


    ''Wow, that was quick. It almost reminds me of all the times I saw that one guy I was stalking get rejected by girls. Poor guy, though,'' thought Evin.


    "Ah, it seems my boss is here," Rith said.


    With her words, a sizable anomaly appeared in space, and what seemed to be a portal became visible to Evin''s eyes. Somehow, the portal gave Evin a familiar feeling, but he couldn''t think much about it as a bright white paw soon emerged from it.


    The neer carried himself in a regal manner, surveying the surroundings calmly and unhurriedly. The starts on his body were white and dazzling. And Rith''s orange stars could not help but lookcklusterpared to them.


    ''Wasn''t I thinking of something exactly like this at some point?" Evin thought as a feeling of Deja-vu took over him.


    "Meet my brother, Solraheeth Abvelgail." Rith introduced.

 Chapter 24: The Contract

    Chapter 24: The Contract


    "Nice to meet you, Mr. Solraheeth," Evin replied quickly.


    ''Ah, it''s that Feline that Aran employed. Who knew that it was Rith''s brother. No wonder she didn''t think twice when calling him,'' Evin figured.


    "You too, little child" Abvelgail replied, and continued: "I have told you to call me Abe, is that so much to ask for? No matter, why have you called me? I thought your pendant had fallen to the hands of a stranger, since you never took the initiative to call me before," Abe stated.


    "So rude, I simply found most matters possible to be solved with my capacity. But today, I found a matter that I cannot solve myself. Hence, I called you," Rith replied calmly.


    "And?" Abvelgail urged.


    "It is like this"


    Rith then exined my offer to Abvelgail in detail. He did not show any reaction when Rith was describing the two methods to boost investment returns. Though he did frown a bit when Rith mentioned the World Contract that required Evin''s safety. After Rith finished describing the whole matter, he thought for a bit then stated:


    "State the terms of the contract, child. A World Contract is not something so simple. I may refuse your offer depending on the terms"


    Evin''s eyes sparkled. They were willing to consider his offer. He calmed himself down and went to exin the details of the contract:


    "It''s very simple.


    First, you must agree to not hurt me in any way.


    Second, if the Elmes Group decides to implement my offer, they must offer me ten percent of all revenue they receive in the territory of the Western Kingdom from it yearly. The contract will be deemed breached if your group secretly implements my offer in any way or form mentioned in the information I provided. This includes the previous point. If your kind finds the matter imusible to implement, I will join your Group and never betray it. Hmm, but I would find it hard to focus on other things, so perhaps you can give me a set number of tasks every year and I would be free to do whatever I wish after I have finished them. I am willing to discuss the details of a World Contract regarding this with you.


    Third, I wish to receive tutge from your kind, regarding the usage of the World of Space.


    And finally, you must never disclose the information I will tell you after the contract was made.


    Of course, you may suggest a change to these conditions"


    The first point was essential. Evin was still anxious that the Felines might suddenly abduct him and force him to reveal everything he knew back at their base. But some actions inherently had risks attached to them, and there was nothing Evin could do to eliminate it.


    The second point was the whole reason why he was having this conversation in the first ce. He knew that one percent was probably too low, but he didn''t want to state a number that was too high, as he didn''t wish to offend the Cosmics. He was painfully aware that he was a nobody currently.


    The third was added as a little bonus. He wasn''t very hopeful about this condition. It would be great if it worked, but even if it didn''t Evin did not lose anything. As for the favor, it was just another bait.


    The final point was made as anotheryer of protection.


    Evin patiently waited for Abvelgail''s answer as he silently watched the light show that was happening on the Feline''s body. The feline himself was making a pondering face, fully concentrated on the subject at hand. Rith, on the other hand, was lying on Evin''s bed as if the whole matter did not concern her at all. Evin could tell that Rith was slowly umting the World''s energy inside her, glowing brighter and brighter in Evin''s eyes.


    Finally, Abvelgail spoke:


    "I have considered your offer. We naturally ept the first andst points. Us, Cosmics, we do not scam our customers. The third point, though, requires a certain procedure for it to be implemented. As you probably know, the Elmes Group sometimes offers their knowledge to humans, but only after we have found them trustworthy," Abvelgail exined.


    "Do tell" Evin urged in response.


    "Simr to your condition, we require you to never disclose the relevant information to other parties. Also, you must understand that even if we do teach you our methods, it does not guarantee that you will be able to channel the Worlds in the same way as we do"


    "Of course"


    Evin also considered the matter of talent and proficiency. But after thinking about it a little, he could only shrug and say that everyone can dream.


    "We will also have to have one of our kin to apany you and monitor you. The whole process might take a year or a decade. We cannot tell you the details of our monitoring or on what basis we will be judging you on. I can only advice you to not act like differently and live as you would normally live"


    This was a pleasant surprise for Evin. He only expected that he would be rejected and that would be the end of it. Being monitored was a bit troubling, but Evin felt that he would not do anything that would warrant negative attention any time soon.


    "And finally, for the second point It is quite a tricky condition. On one hand, if your offer is found to be useless, we can simply ignore it and no hair would fall off our bodies. And another set of hands would be quite useful as well. But if we agree to implement it in any way or form mentioned in your talk, we would have breached the Contract. And the amount you are requesting is quite high, even for our standards, so it must be reduced. You should understand this as well. Thinking about it a bit, I''ve created my two versions of the condition:


    If our Elmes Group decides to implement your offer, we must offer a fixed amount of 100 gold yearly. The contract will be deemed breached if our group secretly decides to implement your offer in any way or form mentioned in your information. But, even if your offer is not implemented, we won''t require you to work for ourpany. We will also ept your proposal of tutge.


    Or,


    If our Elmes Group decides to implement your offer, we must offer you 0.1 percent of all revenue we receive from every bank branch in Alvox, every month. The contract will be deemed breached if our group secretly decides to implement your offer in any way or form mentioned in your information.


    But, if your offer disappoints us, you will have to work as ourpany''s ve. You will have a chance to rise up inside our ranks, but you must know how hard it would be for a single human to rise in a society of Felines. Please tell me your answer in an hour. You may ask Rith for details about the Elmes Group, or anything else you would like to know about" Abvelgail stated slyly.


    Rith looked at her brother reprimandingly, as if telling him to not bully little children.


    Evin, on the other hand, was very taken aback with the offer.


    ''What a fucker I offered him a gamble on his side, and he replied with an ultimatum that''s basically an even bigger gamble for me''


    ''Fuck you! That''s my move!'' Evin cursed at Abvelgail in his head.


    Calming down, he started analyzing the situation. He soon found some points he needed rification on. Such as


    ''How much worth does a gold coin have in the first ce?''


    ''How many people live in Tower Capital?''


    ''How many people live in the Western Kingdom?''


    ''How''s life as a ve in the Elmes Group? I might not mind it if the food is good''


    ''Ugh, I don''t wanna thiink. Piece of shit Abvelgail, just change the conditions. Why must you make me suffer through this ultimatum?''


    The fact that Abvelgail offered him only ten percent of his initial offer, but for the entirety of Alvox was much better than Evin expected. Some modern international banks made a few hundred billion dors in a single year, so the Cosmics bank should be making around that amount of money in the entire world of Alvox. So, if he took one percent that he initially proposed, he would be making hundreds of millions every year. So the other hand, Abvelgail''s 0.1 percent seemed like not much, but it was still 10000 gold, which equated to ten million dors a year. Not to mention the fact that he was getting the money doing jack-shit.


    Even though Evin was a bit unhappy with the treatment, he could only grit his teeth and smile like he was content.


    ''Wee to the life of shareholders of hugepanies, I guess''


    After Evin procrastinated for a couple minutes, he started asking Rith some questions.

 Chapter 25: Educating the ignorant 1

    Chapter 25: Educating the ignorant 1


    "Could you please tell me about how much profit you made when you were working the bank?" Evin asked, calmly.


    "I''m pretty sure the bank was actually losing us money. As for the ie, it was around 2 million gold in the kingdom, right?" Rith asked and looked toward her brother.


    "The exact ie was 2,648,310.12 gold and the expenditure was 3,467,164.3 gold in a year. For every branch, the ie was 11,164,798.41 gold and the expenditure was 15,564,778.94 gold in a year," Abvelgail answered dutifully.


    ''Humph, fucking show-off What a nerd'' Evin was also dutifully badmouthing the Feline in his head.


    Inspecting the numbers, Evin could see that the Western kingdom was one of the biggest reasons why the banking project failed for the Cosmics. Evin didn''t know what nobles were like in the kingdom, but judging from how the 1st grade citizenspletely ignored Liza and Evin''s family, he didn''t have high hopes for them.


    But, if the Elmes bank included the middle-ss and lower-to-middle ss in the mix, the numbers of customers and the ie should skyrocket. Not to mention the middle-ss in Tower Capital should be to most financially capable of the bunch. Hypothetically, if the bank makes a profit of one million gold, Evin should receive a cut of 10000 gold every year. Honestly, that was exceedingly good. If the numbers were converted to Earth''s dors, it would be 10 million dors. And he would be making that money, doing practically nothing. Compared to that, 100gold was 100thousand dors. It wasn''t a bad amount of money, but he would definitely need to have a side job to take care of the costs of being a mage.


    "Rith, do you know how much money a mage requires to cover for all their expenses??"


    "I''d guess about 300 gold a year should be enough to take care of all your lodestone needs and the maintenance of yourboratories. Though the required amount should differ vastly between the various levels of magehood" Rith exined.


    "Do you know how much lodestones I can buy with one gold coin?"


    "You can buy roughly 20 kilograms (44lbs) of dust-grade, 10 kg (22 lbs) of rock-grade and 1 kg (2.2 lbs) of crystal-grade lodestones," Rith replied courteously.


    "Why are their prices so different?" Evin asked in confusion. Wasn''t this supposed to be like that question that goes: "Which is heavier? A kilogram of feathers, or a kilogram of steel?"


    "Well, the crucial difference is in its reusability. As you know, lodestones have the ability to absorb mana from the air. And crystal-grade lodestones do it much faster than rock-grade and dust-grade. Some mages also say that crystal-grade lodestones are easier to use,pared to the other two grades, but I don''t really feel any difference," Rith shrugged.


    "Hm, okay. What''s life like as a ve in the Elmes Group?" Evin asked in all earnestness.


    Rith chuckled at the question, but Abvelgail was sitting there, like a statue. Still and silent.


    ''Damn stuck-up cat, must think he''s better than everyone,'' mumbled Evin.


    "I don''t know, I never paid attention to our ves. But since none of themin about it, it shouldn''t be too hard. We will give you a ce to live in our headquarters, food, clothing and all your living essentials. You also get four days off in a month. Our goal is to make you work your best for ourpany, not torture you. Healthy and stress-free workers are the most efficient, after all. But, of course, you can never leave the headquarters without permission and without someone else to watch over you. Or else the whole point of you being a ve will be lost"


    "What do ves do on their days off?"


    "Most of them take their days off together, drinking and having fun generally. Although some hole up in the libraries, reading up on magic or business studies"


    "How does a ve regain their freedom?"


    "You must bail yourself out. Bail cost starts from 1000 gold and rises by 3000 every year"


    "How do ves make money?"


    "That''s your problem, not mine. If you do be our ve, perhaps you can ask the others," Rith shrugged.


    "Can I have someone else pay my bail?"


    "Of course not. If we allowed that, then what''s the point of punishment? The rich would go scot-free, while the poor would have no choice but to rot," Rith said with emotion.


    ''I wish humans thought like you guys'' Evin sighed.


    "How do you evaluate if someone made their own money or not?"


    "We have our ways. You don''t have to worry about that. Even if someone tries to cheat you, I''ll nag Abvelgail to give you some justice," Rith reassured the child.


    "Then I am assured. Abvelgail, I will choose the second option, but I want to add a condition that says you won''t force me to tell you more information even after I be your ve," Rith said after making his decision.


    ''If I told these two cats the crucial information I was about to share, they might get greedy and fuck me up for it,'' thought Evin.


    Also, Evin could easily solve the 1000 gold bail if he sold some more info from Earth. He did not want to destroy his advantage without trying to keep it.


    "Sure, I expected that you would say something like that," Abvelgail shrugged and pulled out a piece of paper.


    He then wrote the conditions of the contract on the paper and showed it to the child. Evin''s stated conditions remained the same, and Abvelgail added a new condition that bound Evin to say the truth regarding this matter of banks.


    Abvelgail then pulled out another pendant from his pouch, but this time, the light from the pendant glowed with a brilliant blue glow.


    Rith''s pupils narrowed, and expectation filled her face.


    Just as Evin expected, he inserted some energy into the pendant, but it did not explode into a magnificent firework of bright blue colors. Instead, the energy inside the pendant flew up to the sky and turned into a breathtaking aurora. The aurora had an ethereal quality to it, being visible in the sky even from inside Evin''s room.


    Evin would''ve loved to lose his focus and let the aurora mesmerize him in full, but a towering pressure set his foot in Evin''s room.


    But this time it was not a feline, it was a man wearing a suit of dark crimson. A monocle could be seen covering his eyes that shone an alluring tone of gold. The neer''s face was youthful, but one could see lines of wrinkles that littered the youngster''s profile.


    "Solraheeth Abvelgail and Solraheeth Ritven greets their ancestor," Rith and Abvelgail greeted their progenitor uniformly.


    Evin felt pressure from the man, but he could not help but be thankful. If they were going to use the World of Space contract, the felines must definitely uphold their part of the deal. He was sure the consequences of them breaching the contract should be much more severepared to an outsider.


    nor Elmes prudently checked his surroundings, briefly eyeing each character in the room. After his eyes fell on Evin, a flicker of gold red briefly in his eyes.


    Noticing it, Abvelgail showed a surprised expression, which the child was not able to notice.


    ''The progenitor has seen this child before? As far as I know, he only essed the Worlds a month ago or so. Hm. Evin is a Child of the Empress. Perhaps he saw the "recement" before,'' Abvelgail concluded.


    "State your business," nor ordered after his observation.

 Chapter 26: Educating the ignorant 2

    Chapter 26: Educating the ignorant 2


    "We ask you to witness a World Contract" Abvelgail replied promptly, no trace of surprise remaining on the feline''s face.


    "Of course. Give me the contract"


    Abvelgail did asmanded, and nor nced through the contents, before cutting his finger and having a drip of his blood seep into the paper. He then said:


    "May the one who breached the Contract, have their body turned to gold.


    Have their souls trapped in said metal, to witness history as a stack of gold coins"


    nor whipped out a poem randomly, surprising both Evin and the Felines.


    ''I thought I would simply receive divine punishment if I breached the Contract? Did Aran lie to me?'' Evin thought.


    "Lord Ancestor, may I know why there is a different punishment for breaching the Contract?"


    "Some stronger mages are opting to receive the punishment of our strike and a ban from the World, since they could safely endure the attack. Some high-ranking people of the Worldined about this fact, and urged the Empress to create more Velvet Contracts. The Empress in turn,ined to us to create better contracts. Hence, the problem fell to us to create more severe punishments," nor exined.


    "I see. Excuse me for interrupting you," Abvelgail said apologetically.


    "No matter. Swear on the Contract," nor continued.


    "I, Solraheeth Abvelgail, pledge to abide by the conditions of the World Contract of nor Elmes" Abvelgail recited solemnly. A look of piety could be seen in his eyes, as he said the name of his ancestor.


    "I, Eviendra, pledge to abide by the conditions of the World Contract of nor Elmes," Evin recited after the Feline.


    Evin could then feel a foreign energy seep into his mana-core. It made him unsettled, but at least it helped him focus on the matters at hand.


    Abvelgail also seemed to feel the energy, butpared to Evin, the feline only seemed content and satisfied, a pious look on his face.


    "Well then, I''ll be leaving if you don''t need me for anything else. A good deal for you all," nor said and disappeared soon after.


    The pressure nor emitted naturally disappeared with him, and Evin could finally take a breath in peace.


    ''Who knew the Authority of a World was only a few broken pendants away?'' he amusingly thought.


    "Well, everything is prepared. Let us get into business," stated Abvelgail.


    The cute little Abvelgail, wagging his tail at the Authority of the World of Space, was nowhere to be seen, reced with the serious and stoic Feline.


    "Please tell us your solution to the problem of insufficient capital," Rith urged.


    "It''s nothing special. You create what''s called ounts. People would be able to save their money inside them, and you would have to pay them some interest. Your responsibility is to safeguard their money. Offer this proposal to the wealthy, and you will find yourself with enough money to lend out loans to most of the middle-ss. Though, do be careful to not create huge price increases in the process," instructed Evin.


    The Cosmic Felines already monopolized the storage business. If they just integrated its function to the banks, they would have already found themselves a new business. But luckily for Evin, they didn''t. He continued:


    "This requires you to always move your money around, so that it will constantly circte in society. It sounds a bit difficult to execute, but you already have the advantage of being known to every person in the Empire. Not to mention the huge capital of the Elmes Group, your face already instills a feeling of trust in the masses. That''s the advantage of hugepanies branching into other fields"


    "Yes, it''s even easier for us since we already own the storage business. We just have to integrate that into the banking business. Now I feel dumb for never thinking of such things," Abvelgailmented.


    "Exactly as you said" Evin smirked, purposefully stating the matter vaguely, so it was unclear if he agreed with Abvelgail''s take on the banking business, or if he simply agreed with the Feline''s acknowledgement of his stupidity.


    ''Small victories like these, bring the most joy in life,'' Evin thought in satisfaction.


    "You mustn''t have created a spectacle like that, just to say these few words, yes?" urged Abvelgail.


    "Of course not. I''ll tell you about transactions between bank ounts. You could start a new form of service called money transactions. Let me exin"


    "First, there will be two different ounts in your banks, savings ounts and transaction ounts. Savings ounts will be the ones I told you previously, where a customer would receive money for keeping their money in your bank. But, they would not be able to retrieve their money freely and if they absolutely have to retake their money, they would have to pay a fee to do so. It is being used by the Elmes Group as their capital, after all"


    "As for transaction ounts, the customer has freedom to do whatever they want with it. They could simply keep the money in it for safekeeping, or they could take all their money out for whatever they might need it for. They could also send their money to other ounts. Or they could give another person a slip of paper that states the customer''s approval of letting the person with the paper receive the stated amount of money from the customer''s bank ount. We''ll call these papers cheques"


    "For transaction ounts, the bank does not have to pay any interest for it. Though you will be able to add small fees on the various transactions. These fees can''t be too big, but they will be a very efficient source of ie" shamelessly dered Evin.


    "Very good. What else do you have to say?" Abvelgail said, obviously pleased.


    "Doing these actions will also give yourpany immense benefits. You would know the exact amount of assets of the major powers of the World, cementing your influence in Alvox. You could also tell which of the powers are in cooperation with each other, by checking their transaction history," Evin dered proudly.


    "But the cost of these transactions would be difficult to maintain, and I believe that some would be reluctant to pay them," Rithmented.


    "But why would it cost anything? The difference between a bank and a deliverypany is that the bank''s delivering product is the same everywhere. If a person sends a hundred gold coins from the Kingdom to Tower City, the Kingdom''s bank only has to receive the money, and the bank of Tower City will bring out the money for the recipient," exined Evin.


    "Of course! Oh, you make me feel so dumb" said the Feline, sulking.


    "It only requires some time to ponder about. No need to beat yourself over it," Evinforted the Feline.


    He did not feel proud of his ''revtions'', but he had to admit it felt a bit good.


    Evin then went on to educate the two on ideas from Earth. He felt that since he already giarized the idea of banking, he might as well giarize everything rted to it. He told the Felines about financial management advising, insurance services, loans on property, he even told them about the possibility of ATMs, credit and debit cards.


    All of them were received warmly. As for ATMs and the cards, the Felines said they could probably make it with magical constructs, but the prices would be too high, and most likely there wouldn''t be a lot of customers to use them in this time.


    During the talk, Evin became more and more sure that the Felines would ept his proposal, so his mood was sky high. The two felines were also in bliss, thanking the Empress for sending them such a goldmine of ideas.


    Aic sight. A little boy, barely able to walk on his own, talking fervently with two cats that sat there and listened like the boy was the incarnation of the Empress, teaching them her insights. A golden halo would probably be visible in their eyes.


    Everyone taking part in the conversation was extremely satisfied. The cats with the content, and Evin because he talked lots. There wasn''t much chance for him to talk so much before, so he satisfied himself with his presentation. But nearing the end of the conversation, the most crucial part came.


    "Now, you said that you can distinguish which projects would fail and which if them would not. Please tell me your solution," Abvelgail asked cautiously.


    Evin''s gaze regained its sharpness, and he became silent once more. He thought of what he should say, and he decided to keep everything simple.

 Chapter 27: Evins kind

    Chapter 27: Evin''s kind


    "I am a reincarnator. And Ie from a different World, one much more technologically advanced than this one," he finally revealed.


    A look of shock appeared on the Feline''s face, but it soon turned into understanding.


    "As I suspected. That exins so many things!" he eximed excitedly. Even the stoic Abvelgail was taken aback from the revtion.


    Evin knew that the discovery of anotherpletely alternate World wholly warranted such a reaction.


    "I believe other Children of the Empress are the same as me, but perhaps theye from a World different from mine," Evin added quickly.


    "No, none of them are from different Worlds, as far as I know," interjected Abvelgail. "They are all from Alvox. When one dies, their soul has a chance to reappear in a newborn. It is somewhat of an open secret between the people. Though, obviously, there are a few that still don''t know about it"


    "That exins why technology in this World is not as explosive as I would expect. But why does this matter have to be kept secret?"


    The reason might''ve been the same as him, but Evin could not help but ponder at other conclusions.


    "It''s just what most Children decide to do. Keep the matter a secret. I supposed they would want their advantage to be not exposed,"


    "But some people must''ve slipped the secret away in the Empire''s entire history," Evin asked, still unconvinced.


    "Of course, such things happened. But most of themotion dies out soon after. Can you guess why?" Abvelgail asked suddenly.


    "You can''t mean that everyone at the top is a reincarnator? That''s preposterous. Doesn''t that mean that to seed in life, one must die first?" Evin blurted out the question.


    "You don''t know how bad it is. I''ve heard of one man that killed himself while two others were trying at conception next to him," Rith answered.


    The thought made Evin chuckle, but he soonposed himself.


    "But did it work?" he could not help but ask.


    "It did, but apparently it was not the person who died," Rith joked and the three had a pleasantugh.


    "I still can''t believe everyone at the top is a Child of the Empress," Evin said afterwards.


    "Well, of course not everyone. And not every Child bes a great man. There are exceptions to every case. But after one dies once, they would start feeling the value of life more deeply. If they''ve spent their previous life idly tolling away their days doing nothing but wallowing in misery, then of course they would give their everything in their second attempt at life," Abvelgail exined.


    "I also find the matter unbelievable and I do understand your shock, but tell me. What are you doing with your advantage of reincarnation? After you''re two years old, you would already be one of the richest individuals in the World. Don''t you think that others like you would not use everything at their disposal to gain an edge in their new life?" asked Rith.


    "Then that must mean" Evin started, but was soon interrupted by the elder Feline again.


    "Yes, yes. Of course, we ept. You may fear that we will greed for your knowledge, but we''re not dumb enough to kill the duck thatys golden eggs. But you must tell me about the financial developments of your original World," said Abvelgail impatiently. His previous stoicism and seriousness were all but gone.


    ''Birds of a feather really do flock together,'' thought Evin, finding the contrast amusing.


    Evin knew how easily people made friends, no matter how unlikely it seemed. You just needed to find what they''re passionate about. Set off the talk that way, and soon after, you''d wish they''d just shut up for a moment. But what mattered most was finally over.


    Evin could finally take a breath of relief. His gamble had paid off. He would not have to worry about money for the rest of his life, and he also made himself an ally to the most important group in all of Alvox.


    Although it would have been nice to quietly spend his time training the Worlds and leaving for his adventure to immortality when he was actually ready, that path was simply too risk free to offer such benefits.


    His decision to reveal his origins was also a choice he thought deeply about. First, the residents here are not that averse to reincarnations. If he was reincarnated on Earth and revealed he was from another World during the Middle Ages, he would find himself in a mental asylum in the best cases and in the worst cases, he would burnt at a stake. But here, after finding that not that few people knew about the Children of the Empress, he found it more and more eptable to reveal his origins.


    "And for the matter of tutge?" Evin asked in a high-pitched tone.


    "This and that are different things. We must still spend some time monitoring your actions. Until then, we won''t tell a word of our methods. And while we''re on the topic of tutge, Rith seems quite eager to apany you for it," Abvelgail said.


    "So the fact that you''re sitting there, shining like a beacon of Space energy, has something to do with the matter?" asked Evin.


    During the conversation''s entire duration, Rith was slowly and steadily absorbing Space energy into her body.


    "Yes, to monitor you properly, she must leave the World of Space for a long duration. And for that, she will need to survive on a stockpile of the World''s energy. I''d love to tell you more about us, but sadly, such things are not allowed to be disclosed to outsiders,"mented Abvelgail.


    "By the way, I also chanced upon Two Tales while I was going through the Worlds, but why do Authorities have glowing eyes?" Evin asked curiously.


    "You''ve met the Empress'' Authority? What a lucky fellow," uttered Abvelgail in a shocked manner.


    "Is he that hard to meet? I mean, you''ve called your Ancestor for a contract with a one-year-old, and to my observation, he didn''t seem to mind that much," Evin asked in return.


    "The Ancestor trusts our judgement, and he is not such a small-minded ruler. Thought I do feel pained that I have to resort for his help, he knows it is essential for the growth of our Group. It is a simr situation with the other Authorities as well. Even if they are bound by the Empress to be impartial and neutral, they still do their best to help their descendants"


    "Then I suppose Two Tales and Twelve Jokes are considered rare to meet, because they are not affiliated with anyone?"


    "Precisely so. It is not something to boast about, but it is still quite intriguing. Like how one would see a falling star or how one would find a four-leaf clover and feel lucky. Logic says that such things should naturally happen from time to time, but as intelligent beings, our imagination likes to add some vor to the matter. But regardless of all that, the Authorities have glowing eyes, because they are beings of energy. Their skin and clothes are only shells that make it easier for them to convene with us. But their eyes are part of their true body, so it has the aspects of it," Abvelgail described calmly.


    ''That makes some sense'' Evin considered inside.


    Apparently, to be more powerful, one has to literally be a being of energy. Your energy levels should go over nine thousand and then, suddenly, you realize that all of your being became energy.

 Chapter 28: Cosmic observer and Nine Months

    Chapter 28: Cosmic observer and Nine Months


    It was something to note, so he quickly memorized the information and asked the Felines:


    "So, what will happen next?"


    "Well, first of all, let''s make the Contract on tutge. You can talk about it in detail with Rith afterwards. I will go back and start implementing your banking ideas. Don''t worry about the matter not being epted by the others of my kind. As for your payment, we should start to make some profit after a year or so. Until then, you will have to make do with this," Abvelgail said and gave Evin a purse filled with gold.


    Evin tried to take it, but found it hard to even keep the thing in his hands. He put it on the ground and opened it. He found 50 gold coins, minted and clean, inviting Evin to hold them in his hands. As he did so, an involuntary smile appeared on his face, content with his profits.


    He then held one of the coins in his hand and observed it in detail. The coins were much thinner than any other he saw - it was basically as thin as paper, but Evin could see why.


    ''At first I calcted that a gold coin would be worth one thousand or so dors, but apparently i was wrong. Its value should be much lower than that, since there are so many of them in the cirction. After all, there are millions of these things running through the market, judging from the numbers that Abvelgail mentioned,'' Evin thought in his head seriously, but he still couldn''t stop the grin that creeped out soon after.


    ''I judged the Empress for stealing the measurement units of Earth, but only a monthter, I''m stealing ideas from the same ce. Forgive me for my impudence,'' Evin offered a small prayer for the Empress, and turned to the Felines.


    "I''ll tell my parents that you''ve taken me on as your apprentice, but I hope you won''t tell them about the bank and reincarnation for now"


    Evin didn''t mind outsiders knowing his secrets, but he still felt reluctant to throw the matter out in the open when it came to people he cared about. The fact that such actions would confuse his parents greatly was not outside his fears. But deep down inside, he knew that he was simply afraid of the oue. The fact that Evin spent three centuries alone did not make him forget about his humanity. On the contrary, it made him too aware of it.


    The subject made him ufortable, but he knew he had to face it someday.


    ''But not yet,'' Evin thought with slight guilt.


    "If that is your choice, then I shall not interfere," Rith replied with an enigmatic smile.


    Evin realized that her monitoring has already begun. The thought made him slightly ufortable, but he understood it wasn''t something he should focus on. Instead, he wanted to know what exactly Rith could do to help the child when she was monitoring him.


    "Could you please tell me what you are allowed to do when you''re monitoring me?"


    "Ah, I won''t be able to help or give you any information if that''s what you''re asking. This is supposed to be a test of your character and capabilities. If your every action was done with my help, then the test would not be fair, no?" purred the Feline.


    "So, you''re just going to be living around me, watching my every move?" Evin asked.


    ''Not going to lie, I was expecting a few perks from you, though,'' Evin thought, disappointed.


    "Basically. But obviously, I won''t just stand by as you get ughtered by a group of enemies, so don''t worry too much. And sometimes I might affect the situation a bit to force random situations into yourp, to see how you react and all. Please remember that I don''t have to moral guidelines of humans, so if you feel that I''ve stepped over a certain line, do make sure to tell me. And so, to make my job easier, I''ll have to assume the form of a cat and live as your pet for a few years," the Feline replied while stretching.


    "You won''t even answer a few questions from me?"


    "Depends on the information you want. But you should expect that I won''t give you any substantial intelligence. But I can be your chatting partner, and also, you can still hire me for my services regarding the World of Space," purred the Feline gleefully.


    "Okay, that''s good enough. Let''s leave the World, I still have my parents to talk with. Do you have anything to add, Abvelgail?" Evin asked as courtesy.


    "Nothing for now. I''ll open an ount for you in the bank and send your shares to it. You can take it from Rith, if you find a need for the money. She will work as your personal bank ountant, so you won''t have to enter a bank at the age of two years, catching everyone''s attention," exined Abvelgail.


    "Much appreciated," replied Evin with a smile.


    The Feline soon left after exchanging pleasantries, and the two were left alone in the World of Space.


    "We should also leave," Evin reminded.


    "Hm, yeah Wait for me on the main World, I won''t be long," Rith said, a hint of apprehension in her voice.


    Evin did not press the matter and left the World. A few dozen secondster, he heard a crackling sound, and a tadrge cat plopped out into existence.


    "Rith?" Evin asked with surprise.


    The Feline''s body, which used to be a disorienting mass of ck covered in orange stars, was now a ginger colored fur with tinges of white streaks running across it.


    "Ugh, I''ll never get used to this transformation" said the cat with a grimace on her face.


    She then suddenly lurched, looking like she was about to vomit. Evin panicked at the sight, genuinely worried about the cat, but also not wishing to clean the vomit afterwards.


    Thankfully, Rith managed to take control of her body, soon adjusting to her new state, albeit notpletely.


    "Are you okay?" asked Evin soon afterwards.


    "Yeah, don''t worry, happens every time I turn into a normal cat. I can''t stay as an astral being for long in the main World. So, I need to fill in my empty body with flesh, bones, and organs, which feels like I''m giving birth to myself," the cat replied.


    Evin did not expect to hear such a brutal answer and could only nod solemnly for her.


    "Let''s go meet my family," Evin said, after the cat calmed down, soon after. It was already evening, since only the World of Thoughts had the benefit of slowing down time for its guests.


    "Sure."


    Evin pocketed a couple of gold coins from his purse, toddled outside the room with Rith in tow. But the two did not find anyone inside the house. Evin checked the bakery and still hadn''t found anyone.


    "Hmm, I guess they went outside for something" Evin muttered and brought the cat outside.


    Lora and Elina was outside, seemingly butchering some animal. Getting closer, Evin found that it was a chicken. Elina noticed the two after the door opened, curiously eyeing the cat that came out of the door.


    "We''re celebrating something?" he asked, approaching the two women.


    "Oh Evin, we''re celebrating you bing getting discharged. We had customers in the day, so we couldn''t do it then. Don''te near, child. We don''t want the blood to fall on your face," answered Lora, but thinking of the massacre that took ce at Liza''s house she frowned slightly.


    Turning her head, she saw the cat next to her child and eximed: "Oh, where did you find that cat?"


    "Mom, put down the knife for a bit, you too, Elina" Evin cautioned, afraid his mother would hurt herself.


    "What did you want to say?" asked Lora, doing as Evin instructed, Elina followed as well. Evin gestured towards the Rith, drawing thedies'' attention towards the Feline.


    "Please do not panic," said Rith in that soothing, gentle voice.


    Hearing the cat speak in human, the two did not panic, instead only showing interest and fascination.


    "Is that a Cosmic Feline? Oh shit, I''m sorry for calling you a cat before, what''s your name?" Lora asked, respect filling her voice.


    "I''ve thought the Cosmics looked like the starry night sky, though?" Elina asked with a pondering face.


    "Shush, that would be her true form. They look like normal cats- uh, felines when they walk thend of us flesh bearing mortals," answered Lora, clearly experienced with the matter.


    But one word from his mother''s answer took hold of Evin''s attention.


    "You''re immortal?" he asked in wonder.


    ''Why couldn''t I have been born as a Feline?'' he thought inside.


    "Not technically. Some song says that after we die, our body turns into one of the stars, living on as a beacon in the darkest of times But no, we do die. And we don''t turn into stars," exined Rith patiently.


    "More importantly, where did you make friends with a Cosmic, Evin?" Lora asked inquisitively.


    "We met a month ago, and today I asked her to teach me some of her magic. She agreed, but she must spend some time with me, to see whether I am worthy of learning magic from her," Evin exined briefly.


    "Is that true?" Lora almost yelped.


    "Yes, I''ll be spending some time with your child, please don''t mind me. And don''t worry about me freeloading your household. Our Elmes Group will pay a small sum for your troubles," Rith spoke smoothly.


    As if on cue, Evin took out the gold coins from his pocket, showing it to his mother.


    Recognizing the gold, Lora''s hands went to her mouth, though it failed to cover her gasping mouth fully. With the chicken''s blood on her hand, it made quite an interesting picture. Elina was also shocked silly with the sight, probably the first time she ever saw a golden coin.


    "The rest is inside,e along," said Evin, unable to stop his urges of teasing his family.


    "There''s more?!" Lora was even more shocked, her legs started to give out, almost falling down.


    "Come on, let''s get inside. You can leave the chicken out for a little while. Come on, Elina, help mom get inside," Evin said, suddenly feeling bad for the tease.


    Perhaps Evin should''ve told his mom that there would be five dozen gold coins inside the purse, but nevertheless, Lora was taken out ofmission by the sudden surprise. Elina was also very excited about the prospect of the family getting a lot of money.


    Even though her title was of a ve, the entire family treated her like the eldest sister. So whatever money the family got, she would definitely be happy with it.


    Evening came and the same thing happened to Theor. In his case, he was even more excited than the two womenbined, though he didn''t fall unconscious like Lora.


    Evin''s family went through lots of changes after the sudden infusion of money. Lora was a bit afraid that the other families would be jealous of the sudden acquisition of wealth, so she would advise the other family members to stay humble and frugal. But Aran solved the problem quite easily. He officially dered Evin as his disciple, putting him under the wings of the Kingdom. The family could then openly spend their money, using it to decorate their home and yard a bit better than the rest of themoners.


    The Kingdom''s care for mages wasmon knowledge even betweenmoners, so none dared to make trouble for the young mage''s family. Even though mages couldn''t outright bullymoners due tow, they could certainly make life much harder for them. Even idiots would not want to shoot themselves in the leg, just because they felt jealous of a family having born a mage and a Child of the Empress at that.


    Evin felt quite dubious about the kingdom''s protection, but Aran exined that the case with Kens was an isted incident. The kingdom was actually trying many things so that Aran would impart his knowledge about his deadly spell, but failing. They were currently trying to pressure Aran into giving up the secrets by sending him into wars and battles.


    So, in their eyes, Aran getting a disciple was amemorative thing, as they could send Aran to some war and start pressuring Evin instead. It would mean that Evin''s life would be slightly troublesome at some points, but it also meant that Evin would be under their protection during that time.


    Aran, seeing Rith apanying the boy, sent Evin a knowing nce, understanding that whatever the boy tried had worked wonders. But he couldn''t really ask about the details as it would be protected by a World Contract or something simr.


    Rith went on to act as the family''s pet, with Lora and Elina practically worshipping her. After Evin heard about the legends of Cosmic Felines from the two women, and could only marvel at the imagination of the bards and poets that first sung those legends. Rith was a bit ufortable at first because of the fanaticism, but then she gradually started acting like a normal cat, letting the family pet and feed her. Rith showed such a great contrast between the legends and reality to the fanatics, so they also calmed down after a bit of getting used to the Cosmic''s behavior. Though they still didn''t want to casually pet her.


    Rith also joined Evin in hating Arza. The wild kid became stronger and stronger, starting to actively punch and tussle with the Evin and the feline, until both Evin and Rith could not simply ignore him. Now they avoided the kid like a gue.


    Evin, on the other hand, was diligently studying the arts of magic. He hoped that either Aran or Rith would give him something to help, but his two supposed masters only answered, "No," and waltzed away.


    This made him feel that taking the risk of making a deal with the Felines was a mistake, but he could not do anything with the situation. He diligently practiced his magic in every moment of the day, trying his best to increase the efficiency of his mana-core, while also practicing his magical proficiency. He had Rith buy him twenty 2 kg crystal-grade lodestones, so he could practice infusing mana in his spells without a break. He could feel his mana-core''s capability to store and filter mana was getting better and better every day.


    There was not a big improvement in Evin''s usage of the Worlds. He only tried his best to perfect his already existing usages. He managed to make his Air des a bit more deadlier, but making them more concentrated and calling them Air Bullets.


    Another thing he managed to achieve was his ability to float thanks to the Heavy World, and move about using the World of Storms. He spent most of his time trying to improve this new flying ability of his, since it was his main way of moving about.


    With everything that''s happened, another nine months passed in the blink of an eye.

 Chapter 29: Arrival

    Chapter 29: Arrival


    On the outskirts of Smallwall town, a carriage pulled by a horse was carrying two passengers on top of itself. An old man and a youngss. The man was driving the carriage in front, while the girl was sleeping behind. The old man donned a grizzled beard, and a worn-down cloak over his head, watching the road with experienced eyes, trying to dodge the stones and rocks littered about the road. But inevitably, a stone falls under one of the wheels of the carriage, rocking its insides with a violent jerk.


    While the girl was lying down on a stack of hunted fur, covered with her new dark blue cloak, protected from the sun''s re under the shade of the carriage tent, a blissful smile on her face the cruel jerk of the carriage made her jolt up in surprise. She jerked upwards and hit one of the beams with the small silver lump that protruded from her head.


    She let out a shrill scream, then hurriedly began to hold the small protrusion in her hands.


    "Fucking horn" she managed to mumble.


    "Don''t swear, child" the old man reprimanded.


    With no notice of registering the old man''s words, the girl retorted back.


    "Grandpa, please drive carefully, I spent most of the night watching the fire in your stead, since you suddenly decided to increase my shift time, please" she pleaded, then fell down to the pile of fur, to continue her sleep.


    "Probably best to wake up now, child. We can already see the gates of your hometown. I don''t want you father to see youe in that state of drowsiness. The cocky brat will probably use me of uwful childbor or something" the old man spat out with a scowl.


    "But he''s right! Half our journey was you bullying me for no reason!" Sasha snapped back.


    "At least it gave you some backbone. First week after we left, you would silently cry in the carriage, without even the guts to say you wanna go back home. At least now you''ve grown some balls to talk back"


    "I don''t want these balls that grew up! I never wanted to grow balls! I''m a goddamn girl!" Sasha yelled.


    The two''s bickering continued on until they reached the gates of the town.


    "Quiet down, now," ordered the old man.


    The girl reluctantlyplied, but not without mumbling something under her breath.


    "Halt! State your business!" barked the guard. Extra nervous, since he could see the silver horn on the girl''s forehead.


    "Forgot us already, Lowan?" asked the old man, while removing the cloak off his head, grinning at the youngster. There were two horns that curved like a ram on the old man''s head, one red and the other pink.


    "Master Ssatsko! Is that Sasha? How big she has grown!" the youngster cried out incredulously.


    "Of course! We''ve been gone for 2 years already. Can''t believe you''ve grown senile enough to forget about us in that time!" shouted back Sasha.


    "A feisty little one you''ve be. Can''t believe you''re the same little brat who couldn''t hold her tears back when leaving," joked the guard and promptly let the two in. But before letting them inside, he asked them a question.


    "Did you see anything suspicious on your way here? There''s been an increase of missing newbornstely, and everyone in town is at our throat, telling us to give back their children. You also be careful, Sasha," reminded the guard in an unusually stern tone.


    "I''ll be able to take care of myself. Let those losers capture me, I''ll show them I''m not to be messed with," Sasha replied, unconcerned about the dangers.


    "I have seen nothing that stood out on the way. Do you have any suspicions?"


    "It must be those bastard Easterners. Can you believe it? All the way at the North-Western end of the Kingdom, a group of oasis dwellers. I wouldn''t give two thoughts about it if they were from the North, but this far from their hometown, they must be up to no good," spat out the guard.


    "What did they say their purpose was?" asked Ssatsko with curiosity.


    "Said they were researching something, mages from the looks of it," replied the guard.


    "Ah, then you shouldn''t worry about it that much. Probably searching for something or other here. Most likely teleported here with the help of the Felines," shrugged Ssatsko. He knew that the Easterners were strange, but they would rarelye to other countries to find trouble.


    "Come on! Let''s hurry home, I wanna meet my new sibling!" urged Sasha next to the adults.


    "Can''t you see adults are talking? Such a rude child," replied the old man and said his goodbyes to the young guard.


    "I wonder if it''s a boy or a girl? I wish it''s a boy. But at the same time, I wish it''s a girl," the girl pondered out loud, curious and excited.


    Ssatsko could only shrug and lead the carriage to his daughter''s house.


    The two neared their old house, but they could not help but notice all the differences it had. Before, their house looked slightly in and humble, which was basically a nicer way to say empty and deprived, with an empty yard and not even a fence to make out the area that they owned. The house itself was well built, but one could not help but notice the low-quality materials that were used to build it.


    But now, they saw a low and well-spaced cedar fence surrounding their house. Not the kind that''s supposed to deter others away from it, but designed to show the household''s weing attitude towards others. Inside the fence were freshly nted bushes, and a collection of chairs and a table casually left out in the open. Probably the easiest job for a thief, if one ever wanted to rob the household.


    But the house itself looked the most different. First of all, it was twice as wide from what it used to be and another story was added on top. Instead of the cheap wooden frame that it used to employ, it was now built upon a cedar frame that looked sturdy and pleasant to the eye.


    A sign that said bakery was on the front door and a row of customers were lined outside.


    The two looked at each other and found the same puzzled look on each other''s faces.


    "Where did our family go?" asked Sasha from her grandfather.


    "Perhaps we should ask the owners. From the look of the house, they don''t seem that averse to strangers," replied her grandfather.


    Both did not dare think that the house was their own. The contrast was simply too much. They didn''t even want to approach the house, a feeling of apprehension on their expressions.


    Just as they were about to enter the fence, the door opened and Elina ran out to greet them.


    "Grandfather! Sasha! You''re back!" she cried and went on to hug them.


    They made an awkward hug and Ssatsko finally managed to ask:


    "Elina? What happened here?"

 Chapter 30: Meeting

    Chapter 30: Meeting


    Evin was in his room, staring at the blue me which was hovering over his hands, bewildered. Rith was also next to him, observing the child and his creation with astonishment.


    While remodeling the house, he had a testing room built for himself, which was equipped with various tools and apparatuses, which were used by professional woodworkers and cksmiths. He wanted one designed for mages, but the information regarding those was unknown to mostmoners, and Aran told him that the Academy will be in charge of educating him on that matter. Rith also refused to tell him anything, but she still apanied the child for his every experiment. Like today.


    The me soon became too hot for the two to ignore, forcing Evin to dispel his magic.


    "This is fucking dumb" said Evin, shaking his head.


    "How did you do that?" the Feline asked, her maw still half-open from the shock.


    "I just imagined the me being blue. Can you believe it? All those tests of trying to increase the heat of the spell ending in failure, but apparently you only had to imagine the me being blue," said Evin, still mad at his discovery.


    For the past few weeks, Evin was finally getting started with his experiments in the World of Fire.


    He could consistently create fire, since he knew that he only had to imagine part of the oxygen in the air sparking fire. Then he would need to maintain his focus on the me, so that it doesn''t run out immediately, or get out of control and burn his house.


    But he was having trouble making the fire burn hotter. He tried imagining things like increased oxygen consumption, imagining that the air was literally gasoline, which kind of worked, surprisingly. Then he tried making the fire bigger, which turned out to be very mana consumptive; He also tried mixing the World of Fire and Storm But all those things ended upckluster due to one reason or another.


    Most of these methods ended up being extremely costly. Or it would end up feeling like they''re trying to make the fire hotter by scientific methods, not magical ones.


    One of the better methods was to mix the two Worlds, but that required Evin to split his mind and concentrate on two things at once. An ability Evin did not yet possess. So he asked Rith to use the World of Storms in his stead while he focused on the World of Fire and it kind of worked, but it only served to make the me bigger, instead of hotter.


    Evin remembered that the hottest part of a me was located at the center and it looked blue. His goal was to achieve that color in his fire magic.


    But after weeks of trying out various things and failing, he one day decided to imagine the me having a blue color. And for some illogical reason, it worked wonders. The me felt much hotter than its normal counterpart, while also using practically the same amount of mana as a normal fire. It was like someone built a car out of cardboards, then wrote "real car" on it, and suddenly the cardboard car was working all fine, even though it didn''t even have an engine to move it.


    "Do it again. Maybe it was a fluke or something," asked Rith, still skeptical.


    "Look," Evin said and repeated his achievement. It was extremely simple and economical.


    "Maybe it''s burning powers are actually low, even though it feels very threatening," Rith thought up and exnation.


    "Ah, you maybe right. Pass me that log, I''ll hold it above the fire and see how fast it burns"


    As they were about to proceed with the test, the door to Evin''s test room opened suddenly.


    "I told you not to disturb me! Knock at least!" Evin barked at the door, without looking, fully concentrated on dispelling his blue fire.


    "I think your grandpa and sister are back," Rith told Evin, noticing the two neers.


    Evin looked to the door, after making the fire disappear. He saw a short-haired girl and a grizzled old man, both wearing dirty, well-worn cloaks. He noticed a pair of curved horns on his would be grandfather''s head, one red and one pink. He could also see a silverish lump on his sister''s forehead. The red and silver reminded him of the World of Fire and the World of Thoughts. He did not know what the pink represented, though.


    "Oh, he''s so cute!" the girl cried out and ran over to Evin to hug him.


    The smell of stale sweat and gathered dirt, the hallmark of long traveling individuals, pervaded his nostrils, but he did not shy away from the hug. The connection of blood was not something so easily weakened. He returned the hug with his full enthusiasm.


    Ssatsko, on the other hand, was still shocked from the developments.


    "It is true The Cosmic, the gold, and his magic Was that a blue me?" he muttered softly.


    After Sasha had her fill of hugging her little brother, Ssatsko approached the young child. He wore a smiling face, a grin from one cheek to the other, but Evin could see the hesitation and worry in the old man''s eyes.


    ''He must know the truth of the Children,'' Evin concluded.


    An awkward atmosphere was born between the two, and a very ufortable hug unfolded.


    "I can''t believe we have a mage in our house now, I wanted toe back and surprise our parents, but I was the one who ended up surprised," Sashaughed merrily.


    "And what''s this cat? Why can she talk?" She questioned Rith excitedly.


    "Hello, little girl, my name is Solraheeth Ritven. But you can call me Rith. I''m what you would call a Cosmic Feline and I was sent to monitor your brother, to see whether he is worthy of learning our magics," Rith introduced herself in her professional tone.


    "What? Really?" she giggled and asked her Grandfather if all mages were monitored by Cosmic Felines.


    Ssatsko replied briefly to the girl, but his mind was on something else entirely.


    "Was your me blue or did I see wrong?" Ssatsko asked with curiosity.


    Achieving such high levels of heat was not something a normal kid would be able to do, even if it was a Child of the Empress. Ssatsko felt a bit afraid of Evin, since thetter must''ve been a very strong mage in his past life.


    "It was, but it''s a bit weird" Evin started and then exined the whole procedure to Ssatsko.


    The old man was shocked. Such an easy way to achieve a higher level in one''s magehood. It almost seemed illegal.


    "What? That makes no sense Wait, let me try it," Ssatsko then repeated what Evin did, and to his surprise, the me was not only blue, but it possessed a much more dangerous feelingpared to the one Evin showed.


    "What the hell? Why did I try so hard, trying to achieve a different colored me, when all I had to do was just to imagine the me itself being blue," Ssatsko muttered involuntarily.


    "Wait, try to burn something with it, Rith and I think that maybe it just looks strong," Evin said and put the log on the cksmith''s furnace.


    Ssatsko redirected the blue me towards the log, and to everyone''s disappointment, or should one say, relief, it burned at the same rate as a normal fire.


    "It''s a bit disappointing, but that seems about right," they all agreed.


    "Perhaps we could use it as a threat," they then thought of soon after.


    Sasha was left on the sidelines, confused with the peculiar way everyone was acting.


    The three mages'' excitement soon died out, and they went outside Evin''s test room. The two weary travelers enjoyed a bath for the first time in weeks, so they quickly fell asleep on theirfortable new beds.


    Sasha marveled at the new things in her house. The bath, the toilet, the lights Everything. Thanking the Empress, she went to sleep.


    Ssatsko, on the other hand, was overwhelmed by everything. Alongside the happiness, there was undoubtedly suspicion and wariness brewing in his head.

 Chapter 31: The Horn Ceremony

    Chapter 31: The Horn Ceremony


    Dinnertime was nearing and Evin was sitting in his bedroom, reading about the Ivari. Rith was sitting next to him, cuddled up and slightly dozing off.


    The horns on the Ivari''s heads were the product of The World of Fire''s Authority, St''s powers. The Ivari mages were known to be the strongest in the World, thanks to their ability to control one or two Worlds like they were their own limbs. Commoners could also receive a horn during the Horn Ceremony, which required everyone in Ivari to attend at the age of seven.


    Though the amount of people who actually got a Horn was quite low and were called Hornbearers. Most of them were like Lora, who had no horns whatsoever.


    But the ones who had them, although still weaker than most mages, they were still a force to be reckoned with, thanks to their ess and extraordinarily precise controls of one or two magical Worlds.


    But the mages of the Ivari were the real trump cards of the Northern ins. Themon Hornbearers were scary, but their powers were still eptable, since they could not use big spells. But the mages did not have such a liability. They could channel seemingly impossible spells with surgical precision, which gave them an unsurmountable advantage over human mages. Their only weakness was their reduced talent with the Worlds aside from the ones that they were good at. They could work it out somehow, but they could never threaten other trained mages with it. But one could not even call that a proper weakness, because a jack-of-all-trades can never beat a specialist who trained with one element their entire life.


    Not only that, the Northerners were forced to join the military at the age of 15, teaching them basic cooperation tactics, clearly dividing the specialists, so a decently organized team will ideally not have any weaknesses. These points led to the conclusion that the Northern Army was the strongest in the Empire, and they proved it time and time again in the War, while everyone was fighting against the races that lost the Twelve Race War and were exiled to the Southern Inds.


    Luckily for the other countries, the Northerners preferred peace and unity over everything else. There were exceptions, of course, but they numbered few and could never find the support of other Northerners. They could only meekly follow the trend, or leave for other countries to try their luck in a foreignnd. These ambitious Northerners would be culled without mercy, since the rulers of the territories did not wish to meet trouble in their respectful areas. Any sign of a lone Northerner gathering strength would be enough to mobilize an army to subdue them.


    Evin found such information very interesting, but his goal was information regarding the Horn Ceremony, so he searched ahead for that and soon found some writings about the Ceremony.


    Every winter, all children who reached the age of seven, would gather in various spots of the North, to pray to St and wait for his blessings. Although most would get only one horn or none at all, some would get two, instantly making them a target of cultivation. Especially so for the young mages. If a mage with two horns did not have enough backing, one of the Great Tribes of the North would be able to take the mage under their wings. They would give him harsh training, but they would also let the child have a safe environment for growth.


    The horn''s color rted to different Worlds, simr to how mages would get a tint of such color when they were using the energy of a World. Red was Fire, light blue was Water, beige was Earth, Storm was colorless, Darkness was ck, Light was white, Space was golden, Thoughts was silver, Heavy was dark purple, Time was dark blue, Life was Pink and Emotions was different for everyone.


    As formoners with two horns, they would receive training on frugal and precise usage of Mana, making them stronger than most weak mages, and if the person was talented enough, they would be able to contend with some of the stronger mages as well.


    There were also a ways to increase the amount of mana a horn could absorb, and one of them was using World Core shards of the same World. World Cores were called such, because it was basically a condensed form of a World, which were created every century due to the phenomena that uses up all the lodestones on the World.


    Evin wanted to learn about World Cores but there wasn''t much information regarding them in any of themoners books. They just knew that they existed, but most of the information was held by mages.


    He put a bookmark between the page he was reading, and put the book away.


    ''Grandfather seems to be very strong then. His essible Worlds should be the World of Fire and the World of Life, ording to the horns on his head''


    "I''m really lucky my mom is a Northerner, while my dad is from the West," muttered Evin, feeling blessed with his luck.


    ''When Two Tales gave me my perk, I joked to myself, saying that my reincarnation cheat is starting at the same line with everyone else. But now I finally understand how lucky I was,pared to others''


    Evin did not have the reduced talents of Northern mages, but he could freely enjoy the benefits of being one after he went through the Horn ceremony. As far as he knew, he did not have problems using any of the Worlds. Him not using some Worlds like the World of Water and the Luminous Word was by his own choice; and for the Worlds he could not use now, like the World of Space, he just needed some guidance on them.


    He sighed a bit and started petting Rith. After a bit, he slouched into her, fully enjoying therge Feline''s silky fur.


    "Stopp" came out a weak protest from the drowsy Feline.


    "Aren''t you supposed to be monitoring me? Why are you sleeping all the time, then?"


    "Ugh go away, I''m tired," she replied and tried to push Evin away from herself.


    Evin obviously would not heed her orders and continue to bully the Feline when she''s tired.


    "But still, why are you tired so muchtely in the first ce?" Evin asked, noticing that the cat was much more lethargic than usual.


    "Ugh I think I''m pregnant," came the unexpected revtion.


    "What?!"


    Utter shock and confusion could be felt in Evin''s voice. Soon, he calmed himself and started thinking about the situation.


    "When did you even manage to get pregnant?" he finally asked.


    "You do realize you sleep for about a third of the day, right?"


    "That''s fair, but I didn''t see another Cosmic hanging around here. Do you have a husband, and you just teleport over to him when I sleep?"


    "No It''s just a normal cat," replied Rith, sitting up.


    "What? I thought Cosmics would prefer to keep their blood pure? Are you going to get arrested and detained for getting pregnant from a normal cat?"


    Needless to say, Evin''s imagination was going way off topic.


    "Well, it''s not a normal cat, technically. I''m sure it''s a quarter Cosmic, judging from how it acts. And as for your question, no. We don''t try to keep our blood ''pure'', as you stated. The higher ups would much prefer us to have more kittens with normal cats. One of our race''s goals is to raise the general cat poption''s intelligence levels, so I''m not really having a forbidden affair, like your imagination is suggesting to you," replied Rith with a tsk.


    "Well, tell me more"


    "Since I''m pregnant, in about two months I''ll have maybe five kittens. Maybe four or all five of them would be born with higher intelligence than normal cats. They''ll be a little more than half-Cosmic, and would support the Cosmic''s goal of raising the cat poptions'' intelligence. There will be a chance that one of them would be born as a Cosmic. And also, there will be an even slimmer chance of one of them bing a normal cat which is able to use magic and channel the Worlds," Rith exined patiently.


    "What happens to them?"


    "Thetter cases would be taken by the Cosmics to be trained and educated, while the normal cats, I''d raise them myself until they are ready to leave my care,"


    "But aren''t you afraid that your race''s ability to channel the Worlds would be weakened?"


    "If it is the Blood of Cosmics that allows us to channel the Worlds, then why are you asking for our tutge?" Rith countered the child.


    "Ah, I''m dumb. Don''t mind me"


    " ''It only requires some time to ponder about. No need to beat yourself over it'' " said Rith, mimicking Evin''s voice.


    Hearing the line, Evin''s face darkened a bit. Satisfied with Evin''s reaction, Rith continued: "I can''t believe you had such thick skin, to actually say that when you were just copying ideas from your home world"


    "Hey, don''t remind me of that. I was having a good time, then. Maybe I got a little cocky, alright?"


    "Sure, sure,"ughed the Feline in response.


    "By the way, how many kittens do you have in total?"


    "I dunno, close to a hundred, I suppose" Rith shrugged. A hint of sadness in her voice.

 Chapter 32: Rith

    Chapter 32: Rith


    "You sound like a terribly irresponsible mom" Evin teased, not noticing the unusual tone.


    "Don''t judge me by human standards. I gave them best education they could receive,"


    "Where''s the father, by the way? Can I see him?"


    Hearing the question, Rith''s yful side slowly went away.


    "Why?" she asked, fear and panic in her gestures.


    "Just curious Hey, you ok? Don''t force yourself if you don''t want to," Evin finally noticed that something was wrong with Rith.


    ''Does being pregnant affect her mood somehow? I''m sure I would never see her so vulnerable if she wasn''t pregnant or something,'' thought Evin briefly.


    "You know, I''ll just show you," Rith said and jumped on the window porch.


    She meowed inconspicuously for a little while, and another cat appeared next to her soon after. It was a ck cat with slight hints of white in its fur. The two cats came down next to Evin. The neer had in his mouth what seemed to be a dead rat, which he quickly put it in in front of Rith.


    "He seems nice, helps you feed and everything," Evin joked and tried to pet the ck cat. He was met with a hiss and a swipe from his w, a clear warning from the street cat.


    "He''s feral, so I don''t think he''ll let you have your way with it," Rith smiled and took a bite from the offering.


    Evin gave up on the ck cat and went on to bother Rith. As he started petting her as she had her way with the meal, the ck cat started eyeing Evin suspiciously.


    "Aw, he''s jealous. He clearly doesn''t want me touching his beloved," Evin smiled and snuggled up closer to Rith.


    "You''re probably the only toddler in the World to hug a Feline while it''s eating a dead rat. Even if you don''t feel disgust, at least have some fear for infections," reprimanded Rith.


    "Staying in a bit of a dirty environment is actually good for my immune system. I know that people who live in ces devoid of any dirt, usually end up suffering right after they leave their clean space. And if that rat was really infected, then I can only curse my luck and pay for a mage to heal me," Evin shrugged.


    "Don''t spout bullshit excuses," Rith rolled her eyes.


    "It''s not bullshit. It''s science. Anyway, I saw cats feed on whatever they found or hunted maybe a thousand times in my past life, so I don''t really feel any disgust from it," Evin said indistinctively.


    "How? I don''t really know feral cats who allow a human to watch it eat their meal"


    Evin still wasn''t sure if he should reveal that he was a spirit. He didn''t think that it was something that he absolutely needed to keep in secret, but he still didn''t want to look like he was ying victim. But since the cat asked for it, he didn''t mind telling some info.


    "I was actually dead for most of my time in the previous World. I died when I was 26, but for some reason, my soul didn''t disappear, and I had to wander the world alone for a few centuries," Evin finally revealed.


    He also felt that Rith wanted to say something, but was hesitating on whether or not she should open up. So he wanted to open up to her first, so she would feel a bitfortable. After spending so much time with her, he was also starting to trust the Feline much more than he first met her.


    "Are you serious? You couldn''t even talk to anyone else? Wasn''t there other spirits like you, at least?" Rith asked, shocked.


    "There were other spirits, but they would usually be in an insane state, with no ability tomunicate properly. I could never find other spirits with their sanity intact. I used to wander in many battlefields, hoping that one of the dead would turn into a spirit like me, but even after they reanimate, they would soon be insane," Evin said and had a brief pause. He shook his head and continued soon after.


    "But I did have one thing going for me. For unknown reasons, some cats could see me. I don''t know how that was possible, but they didn''t mind my presence, only staring at me with mild curiosity and indifference. It wasn''t much, but it was one of the few moments I felt alive. Soon after, they would open up to me a bit, letting me be around them,"


    "Are you serious?"


    "Yes, but it was very rare. I only met six cats that could see me in the span of three hundred years. I''d stay with them if I ever found one, a brief respite during my long journey of loneliness. They would die after a little more than a decade, and then I''d move on" Evin spoke with sadness.


    "I don''t know what to tell you" Rith said, with aplicated expression on her face.


    "You don''t have to. I got my second chance at life, and all of that is in the past. I can sometimes think about those memories, but I won''t linger on them too long," Evin reassured the Feline and gently petted her, and the awkward atmosphere died out soon after.


    During the conversation, Evin could notice that the ck cat started ignoring him and only looked at Rith with fascination and adoration. It looked weirdly human, the way its eyes gently observed Rith. Like he didn''t want to bother her too much, but couldn''t help but throw a nce soon after. Like he wanted to get close and be with her, but was afraid that she will reject him. Only looking from a distance, his gaze filled with affection.


    "He really does love you, doesn''t he?" Evin couldn''t help but say.


    "Yes and that''s kinda shit" Rith sighed sadly.


    Evin nodded silently, without urging Rith to say anything.


    "My brother says that it is best for us to take control of our emotions. It''s okay to listen to it, it''s okay to feel affection and have fun with life like everyone else. But when ites to your job, you must never let your emotions cloud your judgement. The Ancestor His orders are absolute. And his order was to actively create more of our kind, to save our small-minded brethren from the depths of ignorance"


    "My brother''s way of living I don''t really hate it. I understand that it''s a way of living different from mine, and that''s okay. He gives his best in his job, and although he doesn''t have a beloved, he still enjoys himself with various female Felines and normal cats alike. Contributing to one of our causes"


    "Honestly, he is probably the biggest contributor. As far as I know he should have fathered thousands of kittens all around the World," Rith joked.


    "I would never have imagined him in that way. He felt like the type that tries to keep traditions same," Evin was bbergasted.


    "He is, but tradition for him is the words of our Ancestor. If our Ancestor tells him to die, he will dly give his life," Rith sighed.


    "But sadly, I cannot be like him. Casually have some kittens and say I''m serving our kind You know, I''ve had 89 kittens during my life, and I remember every one of them It''s a weird thing. I think about them all the time, and honestly, I''m excited to have more. I never felt that my kittens were a burden to me, I love them all the same" she trailed off the topic again.


    Evin could imagine what it felt like, but he could never say he understood how it felt. He could not act like he knew what Rith was talking about. He could only wait silently and hope she would narrate it herself.


    "But it all It feels wrong. Just look at him," she said and pointed at the ck cat, "Worry and affection smeared all over his face. He can''t understand what we''re saying, but he can certainly feel that it''s something unpleasant. A normal cat would not be able to tell the difference. But this one This one has emotions. And he" her voice fell off again. With difficulty she managed to finish her sentence, "He loves me. And it''s It''s just,"


    "Suffocating," Evin finished the sentence for her.


    "Yes" Rith sighed out. Her breathing became rough and slight sniffles came out of her.


    Evin could sympathize with her. After all, he saw many simr things happen to people in his previous life. One of the women who he fell for and started stalking in his previous life also met a simr experience in their life.


    He could share some of such stories with Rith, show her how others solved such problems. Perhaps one of them will actually be of help to her. He could tell her a story of a woman who eventually killed herself due to her dissatisfaction with her husband, one she married because of pity. Or he could tell her a story of someone sessfully breaking free from her toxic rtionship and then living a better life.


    But those problems were all too different from Rith''s. Evin couldn''t tell if whether Rith was feeling pity for the ck cat, or if she was feeling like some sort of breeding cat due to her Ancestor''s orders. Perhaps she feels jealous of her brother''s carefree lifestyle, or if she wishes to settle down with one Cosmic for the rest of her life. Or maybe she feels everything all at once.


    So, he chose not to share his stories. He knew that Rith didn''t really want to hear someone talk about her problems like they understood herpletely. She just wanted to vent. To get it out there. To have someone listen.


    Evin silently petted therge cat, silentlyforting her. The ck cat also came and started licking Rith, slightly scared and wary. Rith''s rough and uneven breathing soon calmed down. Her sniffles died out. And she soon let out a refreshed sigh.


    "This is probably the worst monitoring job I''ve ever done," she weakly joked.


    "Hah, I just hope you''ll be lenient with your judgement," Evin said sarcastically.


    "Humph, this and that are different things. We, Cosmics of the Elmes Group, pride ourselves with our Cosmic Professionalism," Rith retorted, evidently feeling much better.


    Evin shrugged in response and continued enjoying Rith''s soft fur.


    ''I wonder what she will do to solve her problems, though,'' he pondered.


    ''Perhaps when the Cosmics feel that their poption has increased enough, she''ll settle down with a Feline she fancies,''


    "How old do Felines live?" he suddenly asked.


    "About three centuries. Why?" Rith answered with her mouth filled with a dead rat.


    "Just curious"


    Evin wanted to ask her age, but didn''t know if female Felines were also sensitive to such topics like some humans. He could only shake his head and give up.

 Chapter 33: The Varashati Empire

    Chapter 33: The Varas''hati Empire


    Just as they were enjoying their free time, Elina knocked on Evin''s door.


    Evin floated towards the door, a form of training for his flying skills.


    "What happened?" Evin asked, it shouldn''t be dinner time, as it was still the afternoon.


    "Some people are asking for you outside at the backdoor. I think they''re Easterners," Elina exined.


    "What? What need would they have from me?"


    "I don''t know, I wanted to direct them to the bakery, but they told me to tell you that they were mages, and would like to discuss some things with you"


    Evin nced at Rith, to see if she knew something, but was only met with a t stare from thetter.


    ''Fucking Cosmic Professionalism'' Evin cursed.


    "I''ll go meet them, then, Elina, please prepare some snacks and drinks at the table," he asked and went to walk down the stairs.


    Reaching the door and opening it, he was met with three dark-skinned individuals, wearing white robes and all carrying a bag on their waists. All of them had shaved their heads, with some piercings decorating their faces. The man in the middle was donning golden piercings, so perhaps he was the leader of the group. He was about to say something to him, but Evin interrupted him.


    "Please enter," Evin invited them, and the three unhurriedly followed after him.


    They sat at the living room table, and Elina soon brought some a teacup with some buns.


    After she left the room, Evin introduced himself.


    "My name is Eviendra, but people call me Evin for short. I heard you wanted to meet me. May I ask why?"


    "What a polite Child. My name is shin Orveth. We were visiting your family''s bakery and heard him talk about you being a Child of the Empress. Our curiosity was ignited, so we decided to meet you and offer you some opportunities," exined shin in the Imperialnguage, with a hard ent that Evin guessed was an eastern one.


    "I''m definitely d that I warrant such attention. Please tell me more about your offer," Evin had no beef with the Easterners, so he did not mind listening to their offer.


    "First, we''d like to tell you about some things. You must have heard about the Varas''hati Empire, yes?"


    "Of course, who in this World doesn''t know about the name of your Empire," Evin replied in a polite tone.


    As the two were talking, shin''s subordinates calmly sipped their tea and enjoyed the delicacies on the table. Clearly not interested in the conversation. And as far as Evin could tell, the two regarded their superior below themselves, only following his orders because they were forced to. Their superior, on the other hand, seemed to not mind it, only concentrating onpleting their job sessfully.


    "Yes, and our Varas''hati Empire has begun our work in the new religion of Ascendants,"


    "Ascendants? please tell me more about it"


    "Of course. You must know that in the world of Alvox, where the Empress resides, it is not that practical to create a religion. But our Varas''hati Empire believes that there are more individuals that are at least strong as, or even stronger than our Empress. They all must have their divine kingdoms, where they rule over their mortal civilizations, but for some reason, our Empress does not allow us, citizens of Alvox, to meet such civilizations," shin exined with fervor.


    "Oh, and why would she do that?" Evin asked, feeling that the words of the man might have some semnce of truth. He himself came from another World after all.


    "Because she is afraid, my dear Child. She is afraid that when we, citizens of Alvox, meet such ascendants, we would prefer them over an Empress that shows no care towards her people. She is afraid that those stronger than her would take over her rule, to grant us mortals a chance to see exactly what kind of treatment we were missing under the rule of the Empress," shin said.


    ''Now I understand why his subordinates don''t respect him, they feel he is a madman''


    But he knew a bit more than them with his reincarnation and everything, so did not share their contempt for shin.


    "Go on," Evin said, genuinely interested in the information.


    "And what do you think are the benefits of falling under the wings of stronger deities? Our religious leader says that our technological and magical prowess would be better by leaps and bounds, leaving behind our primitive lifestyle. As you must know, knowledge of matters is the most important thing for mages. If you know the scientific reasons for why some phenomena happen in the World, you can easily replicate them with the Worlds. Our leader exins that the citizens of those other Worlds, have a much better understanding of the Worldpared to us. If we are able to ess that knowledge, who knows what glorious abilities we can derive from it? Perhaps we could even derive the usage of the World of Time?" shin ended his passionate speech with an obvious bait in the end.


    ''This guy sounds so sure of the matter. I''m guessing that one person from a World with such a god reincarnated upon Alvox at some point,'' Evin guessed. He always wondered if there were other reincarnators who fell upon The Empire from other worlds like himself.


    "Interesting religion. But tell me, what does that have to do with me?" Evin asked.


    "Because, my dear Child, I wish for you to leave this backward town and follow us back to the East. We will be able to show you exactly what you are missing," shin said confidently.


    "You can''t expect someone to follow you just because you asked them to, right? What do you have to offer me?" Evin asked, surprised with shin''s confidence.


    "Of course. We will offer you the best instructors for your foundation, and we will not be frugal with the resources you might need. Whatever resources you may have found here, we will be sure to have more of it for you. Our empire''s love for the Children are not falsehoods," shin continued.


    "What kind of resources would they be?"


    "Well, my Child, the most basic resources would be, needless to say, lodestones, gold, magical devices and manpower. After which, you might be allowed ess to weapons and armor of your choice, Core Shards, tamable World Sprites and even fully intact World Cores! But the most important piece of resource that you might want would be insights to our racial abilities," shin smirked.


    Evin did find the matter quite alluring. He heard about World Cores and Core Shards, but he did not know what a World Sprite was. He guessed that since shin said they were tamable; it must mean they''re living beings.


    Evin was thinking about these things, but did not show anything different on his face.


    "Oh, your invincibility That is quite interesting. What kind of restrictions will you impose upon me for your resources?" Evin asked.


    "You will be asked to swear fealty to the Religion of Ascendants. To never betray them and their interests," shin said smilingly.


    Evin found it interesting that he wouldn''t have Evin swear fealty to the Varas''hati Empire. shin seemed more and more suspicious to Evin.


    "It is very interesting. By the way, what were you doing here? All the way at the North-Western Corner of our Kingdom?" Evin wanted to ask for some info, before concluding the conversation.


    "We were searching for a lost artifact of our Empire. It is supposed to be a weapon, perhaps a sword or a spear Our Empire was searching for it for quite a long time, but we finally received a hint that it might be around this area. We are currently gathering information around this area, so we have an idea of where to search for it," shin replied earnestly.


    "Is that so?" Evin found that he did not find the matter interesting, and he also realized that the man could be lying about it. But since he didn''t lose anything for asking, he did not mind.


    "I will think about the matter more before deciding. But for now, I don''t have any interest in your methods. I don''tck resources, so the only thing I''m interested in is your racial ability, which is not enough to make me jump ship. Sorry for your time," Evin politely declined.

 Chapter 34: Mage distinctions

    Chapter 34: Mage distinctions


    shin didn''t seem to expect rejection and didn''t bother to hide his displeasure. His tone did aplete one eighty, bing threatening and dangerous.


    "Hm. I hope you won''t regret your decisions. Though, thank you for your hospitality. I suppose we shall take our leave now," he replied curtly and went for the door.


    Evin went to see them off, but was refused by the three. He stared intently at the three, wondering if they''ll do something before leaving. Fortunately, they did not do anything suspicious before leaving. After a few seconds, Rith finally asked him.


    "Why did you refuse?"


    "I didn''t like how he kept calling me his Child," Evin replied nonchntly.


    "Stop kidding Though, I do agree it''s annoying"


    "Well, there are a lot of things I could do while I''m here. I don''t even know if those guys were telling the truth. Besides, I will soon get enough money from you guys that I probably won''t even know what to do with them so I don''t need their resources. And I will also have to prove my loyalty afterwards. If I have to go through such a process, I''d rather do it in the kingdom. Plus, the man name shin seemed brainwashed," Evin replied.


    Rith was a bit shocked with the answer. As she knew what kind of implications it had.


    "How do you even know that? Perhaps he was just one of the more zealous believers?"


    "Just a hunch. I couldter confirm my hypothesis, but for now, I don''t want to take the risk. More importantly, do you know anything about his talk of different Ascendants other than the Empress?"


    "The Cosmics don''t have information regarding that. Perhaps the higher ups know, but it''s very likely that they don''t. What do you think?" Rith replied.


    "Who knows? Perhaps someone from another World has reincarnated as a Child of the Empress. Then their decision to dere itself an Empire would also make sense. Though if something like that happened to me, I don''t know why I would dere it in such a way" Evin pondered.


    Rith thought about the matter a for a bit, and then shook her head.


    "Sounds like a pain in the ass I''ll inform Abe, maybe he knows something,"


    "Also, do you know how strong those three were?"


    Rith shrugged in response, indicating she didn''t. But added something in the end.


    "You know, it''s really hard to see how strong a mage is. The only way is to see their mana-core and judge by its size and cirction levels. And even then, most mages on a mission will have methods to hide it. There are also methods to hide which World you are currently imbued with, so that your enemies won''t know what kind of attack they should be expecting," Rith finished exining.


    "What are the different rankings for mages, then?" Evin asked.


    "It''s a bit different in every country. But the Empire ssifies the size and cirction levels in a very general way.


    Beginner, quarter-core, half-core, lesser-imposer, super-imposer. The distinction is made by the size of the mana-cores, or to be more specific, by their core-to-heart ratio. This is because as the mana-core of a mage increases in size, it also kind of reces their heart.


    So, a beginner mage''s mana-core to heart ratio will be up 1/5 to 4/5. Which means that 20% of their heart will be a mana-core.


    A quarter-core''s will be from 20%-40%; a half-core will be 40%-60%; a lesser-imposer''s will be 60%-80%; and a super-imposer''s heart will be 80%-100%," Rith concluded.


    "What do those differences mean, then?"


    "Let''s start from the bottom. Since your core is only about 10% of your heart, you can only absorb half of this 1 kg(2.2 lbs) crystal-grade lodestone at most. After its size reaches 19.9% you will be able topletely absorb this lodestone. But, when you reach the quarter-core stage, you will have a breakthrough and the amount that you will be able to absorb will rise from 1 to 10 kg worth of mana.


    At the half-core stage you can absorb 10 - 100 kg (220 lbs) of mana. But at the Lesser-imposer stage, aside from the increase of your mana intake to 1000, you will be able to turn a tiny part of the main World around you into your most used/powerful magical World. At the Super-Imposer stage, a fixed area around you will be your most used/powerful magical World, which you can influence as your mana-core grows in size"


    "Wait, what happens to the functions of my heart, then?" Evin asked, dubious of the new revtions.


    "Well, just as I exined, your mana-core slowly eats at your heart, gradually recing it. Alongside the blood that flows in your body, it would start pumping natural mana inside you, helping you be a being of pure energy, like our Ancestor and the other Authorities. For an average mage, it would reach the size of roughly 35 % of their heart naturally until they are 15-years-old, at which point the process bes much slower, requiring other methods to increase your core size"


    "Does that mean I have to assimte a World Core or something else to increase my own core''s size?" Evin asked,


    "Yep, but you don''t have to worry about that for the time being. And also, it would most often be Core Shards, or some other method of increasing your core size,"


    "Then what about cirction?"


    "That just increases with how much you use the Worlds. Think of it, like, I dunno Your recharge time after running for a kilometer at full speed. I can''t think of a goodparison," Rith said, cocking her head and holding her paw to her chin.


    ''Guess she means the cooldown timer,'' Evin concluded and asked.


    "Are there different ways of differentiating them?"


    "Yes, it is measured by the seconds that are required for the mage to recharge after he had used an ability which costs all of his mana-core to be utilized. Try creating an illusion which will require you to spend all of your mana-core," Rith instructed.


    Evin took out one of his 1 kg(2.2 lbs.) crystal lodestones, which only had the size of 2-3 cm(about an inch), because of how dense it was. He entered the World of Thoughts and then offered half of the mana inside the crystal lodestone in exchange for the energy of the World. He could feel that his mana-core''s limit had been reached, so he left the World and just imagined the biggest fire he could create. A three meter wide white me suddenly appeared in the room and died out after burning to its heart''s content.


    It wasn''t hard for the two in the room at all, since the me emitted no heat, aside from the little psychological effect.


    "Tell me when you feel like you can do the same again," Rith instructed.


    Evin only nodded and concentrated on his mana-core. After a few dozen seconds, he nodded at Rith.


    "17 seconds. Not too bad," Rith said.


    "What''s your size and duration?" Evin asked.


    "It''s naturally a bit smaller than a human''s but I could be considered a half-core with a 2 second cirction period," Rith said smugly.


    "You''re so strong. How are you so fast at cirction, though?"


    "Mostly because the spells we use with the World of Space are very mana expensive, so we have a lot of chances to use our mana-cores fully"


    "But aren''t bigger mana cores harder to rechargepared to smaller ones?"


    "Of course. Us Cosmics have an advantage here, since we have naturally smaller corespared to you. For a human half-core mage that''s equal to us, they would probably need a dozen seconds topletely recharge"


    "Thanks for the info. Though, why did you suddenly decide to share info with me?" Evin asked, wondering if his talk with the Feline earlier had a positive effect.


    "You never asked before, and it''s not a big secret. Aran would probably tell you if you asked. Your grandfather as well," Rith said with indifference.

 Chapter 35: Exposed

    Chapter 35: Exposed


    Reminded of his grandfather, Evin felt a headacheing.


    ''What should I tell him Ugh''


    ''He''s gonnae to me all serious and say that we need to talk or something''


    ''Then he''s going to confront me about me being a reincarnator, telling me things like "You''re not my real grandson I can''t ept you",''


    While Evin was feeling anxious about the iing trouble, trying to joke about it to relieve his tension, Rith just sighed and decided tofort him a little. Though Evin couldn''t notice her ncing at the door briefly before doing so.


    "Since he knows some matters about the Children, then he should also realize that it''s a random selection. You didn''t choose to be born in this family. Besides, you also helped your family financially and with that incident with the mage, although it means little to some people, it doesn''t mean you did nothing"


    "But I''m still lying to them. But since they could learn about the matter on their own in the future, it would be best if I confronted them myself. But should I tell them that Ie from another World or not is the biggest problem," Evin said with a sigh.


    "You''re such a pain in the ass, weren''t you supposed to be a spirit who wandered your World for three hundred years? How is your willpower so pathetic?"


    "This and that arepletely different things. When I was a spirit, I didn''t have to face anyone, I just existed. There weren''t any social or emotional responsibilities I had to face," Evin grumbled in response.


    "I can''t believe I used to respect you, I even looked up to you Sigh, I guess first impressions do leave a big impact. Even when you''re acting like the toddling little bitch you are, I seem to not mind it so much," Rith jabbed at Evin.


    "You''re so mean. How can you be this mean? I can''t believe I lived through three centuries of loneliness and insanity and then reincarnated in apletely unknown World to me, just to be abused by a cat half the time," Evin answered sadly.


    "You what?" Came an old man''s voice from the door to Ssatsko''s room.


    Evin instantly red at Rith, who was grinning from cheek to cheek. He knew that Rith could easily sense if someone was eavesdropping on them or not.


    ''I thought you weren''t supposed to interfere with my life?!'' he screamed internally.


    ''Where''s your fucking Cosmic Professionalism?!''


    Calming down, he faced his grandfather.


    "Let''s go to our room," he told Ssatsko.


    The man nodded and followed behind with a difficult face.


    They entered Evin''s test room and Evin set the furnace on fire, so it worked as an extra source of noise. He knew that he couldn''t trust Rith with his secrets now.


    "I thought you were sleeping, grandpa. It''s not nice to eavesdrop on people," Evin started the conversation abruptly.


    "Elina woke me up, saying that some Easterners came to our house. I was admiring how politely you talked with them. But ended up listening to the whole conversation, because you not knowing about the mage distinctions seemed a bit suspicious to me, since you''re supposed to be a Child of the Empress, after all. I know that the Cosmics don''t take anyone as their disciple, so I was curious of the reasons. Afterwards, I chanced upon your talk about you being a spirit from another World. Is that true?" Ssatsko truthfully revealed everything.


    Evin sighed and shook his head.


    "It''s true. I was dead for a long time, but was given a chance to be reborn in Alvox. The World Ie from does not have anything rted to magic, but it is much more technologically advanced than Alvox. I can''t tell you the full details, but I sold some information from my original World to the Cosmics. Hence, she was sent to monitor me," Evin gave a short exnation of his circumstances.


    "I see That exins a lot of things," Ssatsko pondered. He knew that receiving tutge from the Cosmics is basically a legend at this point with only a few dozen individuals achieving such privileges.


    "So? What did you want to tell me?"


    "What would I tell you? As Rith there said, it wasn''t your choice to be reborn as Lora''s child. And I think that recement is a very wrong way to describe Children of the Empress. Let me exin. What''s the earliest memory you have of this World?" Ssatsko asked.


    "I believe it is when I was in my mother''s womb,"


    "Exactly. I don''t know too much about these things, but I have heard that the Children of the Empress remember being inside their mother''s wombs. I don''t believe that there was a child in the womb before you. One that you had to rece. You were born inside you mother''s wombs from the beginning. Albeit with some extra memories you had to bear," Ssatsko said.


    "But when you looked at me in the morning, you seemed so awkward, like you didn''t know what to do"


    "But it is awkward, don''t you agree? A little boy, not even two years old. My instincts tell me that you''re a cute little boy who knows nothing of life, but my mind tells me theplete opposite. That you''re someone who lived through thick and thin, perhaps you were a criminal in your past life for all I know"


    Evin felt like crying, hearing these understanding words.


    ''I guess it''s true that grandfathers dote on their grandchildren,'' Evin thought with happiness.


    "Thanks for your understanding I guess," Evin replied awkwardly. He expected disdain and suspicion, but instead received understanding andpassion. Needless to say, he started to really like his new grandfather.


    "Also, will you tell your parents?"


    "I really should, shouldn''t I?" Hearing about the matter, Evin felt like another headache was brewing inside his head. Rith saw the child brooding over the matter, and just sighed in disappointment again.


    ''I can''t believe this guy survived for three centuries alone. So goddamn annoying,'' Rith thought.


    "Though you should keep it a secret from Sasha for the time being,"


    "True I''ll talk to them tonight," Evin said resolutely.


    "Good. Wake up early in the morning. We will go to the forest for a few days," Ssatsko said suddenly.


    "What? Why?"


    "You may be a 300-year-old man, but you''re still the grandson of a hunter. I''ll need to teach you some other things as well," Ssatsko said. Thinking a bit, he continued, "You should also probably give your parents some time to think after your conversation"


    "How long will we be gone? What should I prepare?"


    "Nothing much, just make sure you bring some warm clothes. Don''t bring food, though," Ssatsko reminded.


    ''Guess we''ll have to hunt our own food,'' Evin guessed.


    "I must ask, what kind of World did youe from?" Ssatsko then asked with curiosity.


    Evin heard the question he heard so many times from Abvelgail and Rith. He smirked and replied smugly.


    "I''m not telling you. But I may be willing to sell some of the information"


    "What do you want in exchange, then?"


    "I don''t know," Evin said with an annoying smirk.


    Ssatsko made a puzzled face.


    "I don''t know what kind of price would be best for such information. I only told the Felines information about a single business in my previous World, whichted me a sry of ten thousand gold every year, and the numbers should keep rising over time as well. Who knows what kind of benefits I may require in the future? If I decide to sell more information about my home, I shall do so only when I need it," Evin exined shamelessly.


    He did not think of using his information to better the technology and development of Alvox. He wasn''t a saint, but he wasn''t a penny-pincher either, so he didn''t mind selling the info. He just didn''t want to suffer a losing deal.


    The three dispersed soon after.

 Chapter 36: The dreaded talk

    Chapter 36: The dreaded talk


    Theor came into the living quarters of their home with a little girl hugging his waist and begging him to not let his daughter go on another trip with grandfather. Soon after, dinner time came and a merry atmosphere pervaded Evin''s house.


    Theor brought out the topic of Sasha''s torturous journey to her grandfather, but Ssatsko did not bother to hide his disappointment towards his son-inw, as he continuously interacted with him through a veil of sharp sarcasm. He was soon defeated at the hands of his granddaughter and Elina, feeling betrayed by their sudden onught towards him.


    The talk continued on for quite a long time, as Evin and his parents had to narrate through their sudden lifestyle changes.


    After everything was over, Evin called his parents to his room alongside Ssatsko. They gathered inside Evin''s room and a serious expression was on the child''s face.


    "Mom, dad, I have to tell you something,"


    Lora wanted to ask him what it is in a cutesy voice, but felt that the atmosphere was too serious for that.


    "Go on," said Theor in a weirdly agitated voice. He had some drinks, so he was feeling a bit tipsy, but not enough to act like a fool.


    "What do you know about the Children of the Empress?" Evin decided to at leasty some cushions underneath before he pushed his parents into the pit called truth.


    "Kids like you, with smart wits from birth. Why?" Theor answered simply.


    "Why do you think that some kids are born like that, while others are born with none of those developed minds?"


    "What are you trying to say, boy? Of course, due to the grace of the Empress, how else?" Theor replied, then, as if remembering something unpleasant, he furrowed his brows and started talking.


    "Actually, let me tell you something as well. Today, a few Easterners came to our bakery. Three dark-skinned individuals, wearing white and decorating their faces with gold and iron. Said they were mages, and probably were interested in our bakery good. After I was done with cooking food, I went out to themon hall like I always do. Told the folk a bit about you as well. Do you know what they told me? Told me, that you should join a damn cult they''re starting! Says there''s gods better than our Empress! Says that we should follow them as well, so that they can grace us with their divine presence! Says that our magnificent Empress is a scamming woman, tryna keep us in her palms for benefits unknown to us. Can you believe it? Those darned backward-country-bumpkin-looking-ass Easterners weren''t satisfied with courting death alone, they decided to invite the whole World in their great endeavour! I didn''t bother talking more with those fools. Was afraid that staying with those morons would dull my damn wits!" Theor finished his passionate speech. Clearly, the man did not like those Easterners.


    "Actually, they came to see me in the afternoon, said simr things, and asked me to join them"


    "Those mother-," Theor began, but was pped on his hands by Lora.


    "Theor! Watch yournguage!"


    "Sorry, heart. But I can''t believe they had the gall toe to my house and try poaching my goddamn son! My blood! I''ll swear I should''ve kicked them away from our bakery, then!"


    "Don''t worry, I rejected their offer, so you don''t have to provoke them unnecessarily," Evin interjected.


    ''The man with the golden pierces seemed a bit unstable, I can''t let father provoke them. Who knows what he might do,'' Evin reasoned and continued convincing Theor.


    "Besides, even if they truly believed that, why bother wasting your breath on them? Endure them for a few days and they''ll be long gone from this town. Surely a big-hearted man like my father won''t hold grudges with some ignorant individuals?"


    "Of course Why should I care about educating those ignorant lunatics. Best if I simply ignore them,"


    "Great. Anyway, we went way off topic. Remember how I asked you why the Children of the Empress are smarter than normal toddlers? You said it was the grace of our Empress, right? You may be correct, but I must tell you of a rted, but different thing. Mother, father, do you believe in reincarnations?" Evin asked in a heavy tone.


    Lora and Theor felt fear of what her child was implying, and could not help but wish to run away from the room.


    The truth was, that they always knew that something was amiss with their child, but always ran away from the revtion. They could''ve asked Aran or Rith about Evin''s true nature, but they still wished to keep the situation as is. They weren''t blind, they had just chosen to be.


    "The truth is, that the Children of the Empress are dead people who were reincarnated into the bodies of children," Evin said gravely.


    "What do you mean to say"


    "It means that I''m not a two-year-old child. I''ve lived a life in another World where the people know no magic, and no Empress to watch over us. I''ve died in that World three hundred years ago and wandered that World as a spirit. Two years ago I found a chance to reincarnate in Alvox," Evin exined.


    "What do you mean? You mean to say you''re three centuries old? Don''t joke with me, child. It''s not funny," Theor said, but he couldn''t help but notice the uncertainty in his own voice.


    Evin was silent for a while. He felt like he would regret this day greatly in the future, but he understood that it was something necessary.


    "I shall take Evin to the forest, to teach him some things of hunters. We will most likely take 10 days. Think about this matter for the time being," Ssatsko said from the side.


    "Father, did you know about this?" Lora asked weakly.


    "I know about the truth of the Children. And I know that it is not their choice to be born with their memories, it is just something that happens naturally in this World. Perhaps the Empress has some influence, but us mortals cannot hope to fathom her thoughts," said Ssatsko.


    "Fine, take the kid and go!" snapped Theor and walked out of the room. "What in hell has this Worlde to?" his mutterings could be heard while he was exiting the room.


    "Sorry, child I I don''t even know if I should call you a child, but I definitely think I need some time alone," Lora said and followed behind Theor.


    "You know you had to do this sooner orter," Ssatsko also left soon after.


    Evin sighed and leaned against Rith.


    "They''ll understand, don''t worry. I''m proud of you,"forted Rith and rubbed her cheeks against the child.


    "I can''t believe I miss being a spirit," Evin muttered.


    "It''s how you lived for practically all your life. It''s not strange for you to feel familiarity with that state. Anyway, it''s time to sleep, I have a feeling that your days of waking up at noon will end tomorrow," Rith said.


    Evin went to his bed, but couldn''t sleep for a long time. But he still managed to get some sleep after a few hours of rolling inside his bed.


    ...

 Chapter 37: The human-shaped metal

    Chapter 37: The human-shaped metal


    The next morning, just as Rith predicted, Ssatsko came in the early morning to wake Evin up. They had breakfast, and Evin prepared for departure with his grandfather. They prepared a tent, some clothing, and some emergency items for the trip. They gave it all to Rith for her to keep them in the storage space reserved for Evin.


    Before they left, Evin half-expected his parents to see him off, but was disappointed to find no one. He became a bit anxious, but he knew that his parents needed time to digest the information. Elina and Sasha came out to see them off, saying something about their parents'' irresponsibility. Sasha went on with another talk of what Evin should avoid doing to keep his grandfather satisfied. After saying their goodbyes, the trio walked towards the forest that was located on the on Smallwall town''s western side.


    In the deep thickets of a forest, shards of metal slowly converged to take on a human shape. The glistening of the metal showed that it definitely was not your usual low-grade metal. The steel shone with a fiery red hue, threatening and ominous. The humanoid shape was notplete, only able to imitate a makeshift version of what looks like a human. The metal covered the invisible shape''s exterior, but it was quite noticeably hollow.


    But aside from all those deficiencies, it definitely behaved like a human would. Its chest rose and fell like it was breathing, heavily and with difficulty. At one point it even tried to spread its ''arms'' and faced upwards, it''s ''mouth'' opening wide, like it''s trying to scream. But no sound other than the asional nking of metal could be heard in the vicinity.


    It seemed to make a sudden decision, as the shape tried to run to a random direction with all its strength. It could not reach far, and it stumbled down to the ground. Soon after, the spread out shards that created the shape of a human converged together, and took on the shape of a sword. The swordy on the ground, exhausted from its previous ''attempt at humanity''.


    Evin''s group finally reached the outskirts of the Forest after traveling for half a day. Ssatsko was silent throughout the journey, aside from telling Evin some information about what they were about to do inside the forest.


    It wasn''t anything exceptional, they would basically survive on their hunted food for the ten days that they would be gone. For the seven days, they would gradually go into the deeper reaches of the forest, hunting animals that came upon them. Ssatsko exined that there would be something interesting to see at the center of the forest. So, after they checked out that spot, they would return. If everything went well, they would have hunted enough meat tost them the journey back.


    As they were about to enter the forest, Ssatsko finally said something.


    "Don''t worry about anything for now. Just follow behind me and observe to your best abilities. In the evening, you will ask me anything you found confusing or interesting. Tomorrow, you will start imitating me as much as you can, so today''s evening would be your best chance to learn," he said.


    "Oh, that''s quite simple. I thought you would leave me here and tell me to survive for ten days or something," Evin joked.


    "What kind of dumbass training method is that? Is that supposed to be self-studying? Why should you not take advantage of the wisdom of your elders, instead of fumbling in the dark yourself? Though it does feel a bit off when I call myself an elder in front of to you" Ssatsko said with a chuckle.


    "Just because I lived for a few couple hundred years, doesn''t mean that I know everything. It''s not my first time hunting, but I''m nheless excited,"


    "Oh, when was that?" Ssatsko asked, curiously.


    "Don''t expect anything from me. It was still when I was alive, so a very long time ago. I went hunting with some of my friends when I was studying in a university. And I also mostly watched in the sidelines when it happened. Not to mention that it has been such a long time since then"


    "Then just watch and follow me silently. If you see something you think I didn''t notice, then don''t hesitate to tell me," Ssatsko said, and they walked deeper inside the forest.


    Nothing exciting happened for about three hours, as Ssatsko moved stealthily and silently through the forest. Sometimes when he would find some footprints of an animal, mostly deer, judging from the hoof size, he would inspect it for a bit and move on. Evin guessed that the trail was too old to follow.


    But after a little while, he managed to find some turkey trails. He beckoned Evin to follow, and thetter decided to float behind the old hunter. He understood that the trail was fresh, so he didn''t mind spending some mana to hide his sounds. Ssatsko was walking, but he didn''t make any noise. Compared to him, Evin floated like he was wearing a suit of armor. They followed the trail for a bit, until they soon heard the turkey''s call. Ssatsko focus was on confirming visual on his prey, as his eyes calmly scanned the area that produced the sound. Not too long after, he found his target and after a slight glow of his red horn; he shot a ming arc towards the turkey. The arc worked like a knife and instantly decapitated the turkey.


    Evin was wondering how they would kill their prey, and as he guessed, they just used magic. Simple and efficient.


    "The turkey stood no chance," Evinmented seriously from the side, while shaking his head. His joke got a chuckle from Rith, but Ssatsko only shook his head and went to collect his game.


    "Not bad. This willst us till tomorrow evening. Let''s travel towards the center for the time being," he then said, and the three continued the march. They did not have to walk slowly as they had already found their food.


    The sun was starting to set behind the trees, so they began setting up camp. After bringing out tents and the cooking-ware, Ssatsko showed Evin how to butcher therge bird.


    He took out a big pot that he gave to Rith before leaving and filled it with water, then boiled it with his magic. Then, he put the big bird inside it and boiled it for a few dozen minutes.


    "It''s easier to pluck its feathers after boiling it. I could burn it off with Fire, but the smell ain''t exactly nice," the old man exined.


    Afterwards they took the animal out of the pot and started plucking. After they were satisfied with their work, Ssatsko started to cut the turkey''s belly, so that he could extract all the blood and innards from inside. Evin watched the process silently.


    Ssatsko asked Evin to dig out a hole somewhere and bury the innards and blood inside. Throwing it in a random ce might attract some beasts, so burying it is the best way to get rid of it. Evin used the World of Earth and helped to quickly finished this task.


    ''Hopefully, it''ll help a tree growter or something,'' he thought.


    "In the North, we usually eat every part of our prey, even the innards and blood. We get the necessary nutrients to survive from the organs of the animals, since eating only meat will eventually lead to your body''s failure. We also have to be frugal with our food, because growing nts requires warm environments and that requires mages to keep the heat up. The higher ups and mages can afford to eat vegetables, but mostmoners live off their cows and sheep." Ssatsko mentioned.


    Evin nodded thoughtfully. The two left the turkey to chill. Done with their tasks, they went on to talk about their day.


    "So, tell me boy, what did we do today?" the old man asked, then realized how he called Evin and frowned.


    "We spent most of the still hunting, creeping through the forest while we searched for signs of prey. After we find some signs, we inspect it, and if it''s fresh, we begin stalking the prey. If it''s too old to follow, we give up and move on," Evin summarized the day''s activities.


    "Good, what kind of questions do you have?"


    "Not much, I only want to know the various footprints and sounds of animals, so I don''t miss too many trails tomorrow," Evin said.


    They spent the rest of the evening talking about the traits of various animals and birds. The ground was littered with drawings of animal footprints after it all ended. At the end, Ssatsko reminded Evin of mana beasts.


    "Inform me immediately if you feel traces of mana on beast trails, or if you find abnormallyrge trails of animals. They should be ones left by mana-beasts. They are normal beasts who either absorbed mana naturally, or they were unlucky enough to swallow mana lodestones. If it''s the first case, everything''s fine. They''re all wise creatures who roam these forests. They know better than to mess with unknown humans. But if it''s thetter, it would most likely be rabid and dangerous. Their powers depend on how much mana they absorbed"


    "How dangerous can they be?" Evin asked.


    "They don''t get too powerful, since the more mana they absorb, the harder it is for them to survive. But if they do survive, then it bes a very tricky problem. If we meet such a beast, it would be best for us to ask Rith to send us out of this forest," Ssatsko exined.


    Ssatsko then set up a life-sensing ward around the camp. Since his other horn gives him power over the World of Life, such things were easy for him to create. Evin asked his grandfather to teach him, but received another refusal.


    "Are you guys bound by an oath or something? What is this?" Evin eximed afterwards.


    Rith and Ssatsko could only shake their heads at the question. They praised Evin in their hearts for finding the truth, but were not quite able to vocalize it.


    They had the turkey''s legs and wings for dinner, and they soon went to sleep after talking for a bit.

 Chapter 38: Full-metal bird.

    Chapter 38: Full-metal bird.


    The living sword was lying on the ground, beckoning others toe find him. It realized that it had such an ability after staying still and trying out different things. It waited long and soon after, his patience paid off as a slightlyrge raven found the shining metal sword on the ground.


    The crow saw the sword, but hesitated on whether it should catch it between its beaks. It was greedy for the sword, but it felt like it wasn''t able to carry it.


    Noticing the crow''s hesitation, the sword immediately started shrinking. It turned into a small little dagger, just a bit longer than the big crow''s height. The metal object''s sudden shrinking shocked the raven, but its hesitation was no more. It instantly dove down from the tree it was sitting on.


    Right after its talons grabbed the dagger, the metal broke down into tiny little pieces again, and violently started wrapping around the raven. The ck bird was startled and started cawing in an ugly tone with panic. Its struggle was useless, as the flesh and feathers of the animal were not enough to break through the metal trap.


    After a few seconds, the struggle ended, and the raven who thought that it had died, instead found itself with a new set of armor. Its beak and talons were now armed with ayer of scarlet metal, a clear upgrade to its fighting potential, while It''s chest and head were covered in a shining silver armor. The raven was startled at first, but it not feel anything negative. It had enough strength to wield its newfound equipment freely, while also gaining some knowledge on how to utilize it properly.


    It did not even feel burdened by the weight of its new armor. It took nces at its wings and body, taking some time to adjust to the new sight.


    But the biggest change it felt was that it heard a voice in its head, making unknown sounds inside it. First it was agitated, making all sorts of noises inside the crow''s head, but after a while it became silent.


    The raven was confused, but it decided to throw the matter out of its head and went on to hunt for other prey.


    But right after it starting flying, the shiny metal covering its body kept distracting it and so it fell to the ground. Next came a long period of the bird trying to adapt to its new body.


    Evin and Rith woke up soon after sunrise. Ssatsko was already up and preparing breakfast for the two. After storing everything with Rith''s powers, they ventured deeper into the forest. Only this time, Evin was in front of the group, awfully focused on finding trails of animals. He found a few trails, but they were all too old to lead to anything. Evin was confident in his decisions, so the trip didn''t be that much slower than the previous day. Ssatsko followed silently, offering no input whatsoever.


    After a few hours, Evin finally found a trail he deemed stalkable. And it wasn''t just any trail, it was the hoofprints of a deer.


    ''A big game!'' Evin immediately started following the hoofprints. He was extra focused, since he didn''t want to startle the deer. He began floating carefully between the trees as he perked his ears for any kind of rattling or snorting sound that maye from the deer. He took a brief break every time his mana-core ran dry from the constant use of two Worlds, but immediately began floating in search of the deer after it was replenished.


    Even though Ssatsko was walking on the ground, the experienced old man made almost no sound when walking. As for Rith, she was silently following behind them, either floating or just walking, depending on her mood. After walking for about thirty minutes more, he finally heard the faint sounds of an animal chewing grass.


    His focus was sharpened yet again, as his eyes darted around the area in search of the deer. He had stopped movingpletely, only tilting his body towards to the source of the sound. His eyes finally registered the sharp movement of the deer''s antlers.


    ''A buck, then. Best to kill in one shot and make sure it''s dead before approaching it,'' Evin noted in his head.


    Approaching a struggling creature was considered brave at best, and dumb at worst.


    He floated to a spot where he could get a better view of the beast. He flew towards a thick branch, able to hold his weight. He stood on it and stopped floating. The buck was about 20 meters away, facing away from him. After judging the distance and the position, he concluded that he shouldn''t be able to get a clean hit to its vitals. He picked up an acorn and let it float. He directed it towards the right side of the buck, slowly and steadily, making sure it doesn''t hit anything. After the acorn was about 30 meters away from him, he let it drop and immediately charged up for an air bullet. He learned how to change some of his spell''s attributes, so he could make his little bullets much more lethal than a normal one.


    Hearing the sudden drop of an acorn, the buck was alerted, and immediately looked towards the source of the sound. A clear view on its neck and head was presented to Evin, which he immediately took advantage of. An air bullet the size of a finger flew towards the buck at incredible speeds.


    Evin expected a clean headshot, but the bullet flew a bit to the left side of Evin''s intended target, hitting its neck. The deer immediately fell to the ground and convulsed with pain for a minute until it wasn''t able to move anymore.


    Evin closed in towards the animal, and shot another air bullet towards its head, before nearing the creature. After confirming the deer''s state, he went silent and fell onto his knees and started praying.


    Watching the process, Ssatsko could only think of one thing.


    ''How steady Its almost paranoic''


    "Not bad. Seems we won''t be needing to hunt more, as this amount of meat shouldst enough for our trip to the center and back," Ssatskomented.


    "We won''t be hunting more?," Evin asked, since he expected that the entire trip was going to be a glorified training camp.


    "Why should we? We have enough to feed ourselves, as long as we don''t find anything that''s basically serving itself on a silver tter to us, we''ll move at a normal pace. Besides, I realize I don''t have much to teach you. I don''t know if it''s because of your age, or it''s just you, but you''re even more steady than me. Can''t say I would''ve done any better than that," Ssatsko praised Evin.

 Chapter 39: The three pursuers.

    Chapter 39: The three pursuers.


    Rith came from behind and asked Evin, "Who did you pray to, by the way?"


    "No one, I just prayed for the buck. If the Empress or some other god or goddess happened to hear me, then that''s fine as well," Evin said nonchntly.


    "Okay," Rith did not chase the matter.


    Ssatsko taught Evin to bleed the buck, and then they gave the dried husk to Rith to store. The Feline took a little bite from it, andmented, "Definitely tastes better than a rat".


    "Maybe tell your boyfriend that you don''t like his gifts," Evin joked.


    "I don''t want him to go and hunt a deer because of me. And who says he has to feed me in the first ce? I''m much older than the little thing. I''m sure I''m qualified to be his sugar mommy. I only eat his rats because I feel bad for the thing." Rith replied without skipping a beat.


    "Such a shameless cat"


    "Whether or not I feel shame is my own choice. Why don''t you follow behind my footsteps? Just ignore your feeling of shame and do what you wish. Life bes so much easier," the Feline replied with a grin.


    "Maybe it''s because I''m not a Feline, I don''t have a shame switch. You know, maybe I shouldin about you to your brother. I feel like I''m being scammed of this Cosmic Professionalism thing. One moment, you abide by it, and the next you act like you never heard of such a thing," Evin jabbed.


    "Patriotism is also a choice. Who says I have to abide by it all the time?"


    The answer''s shamelessness stunned Evin, who wasn''t able to reply properly, fast enough.


    Feeling weakness in her enemy, Rith gleefully attacked more.


    After being properly chewed out by the Feline, Evin finally waved the white g.


    "I can''t believe you''re both older than me," said Ssatsko, after listening to their conversation.


    "I''m only barely older than you," Rith replied, a bit offended.


    "Grandpapa, this cat is bullying me!!!" wailed Evin and ran towards Ssatsko.


    The old man thought he experienced many things in life, but never would he expect he would one day have tofort his three-hundred-year-old grandson.


    The three had venison neck for lunch and continued their journey. After hiking for a bit, they would sit down and take minor breaks. But at one point, they found some traces of what seemed to be a mana-beast.


    It seemed to be some sort of a bird with razor-sharp talons. Ssatsko found talon marks on a branch and could see dents made by the creature on it.


    They concluded that its talons must''ve been super sharp, as the talon''s size wasn''t that big. So it couldn''t mean that the bird was abnormally big. The old hunter judged that the bird shouldn''t be too strong, since practically every time a mana beast ate, it would be bigger. He exined to Evin, that when a normal beast bes a mana-beast, it starts absorbing the natural energies found in living beings after eating them, resulting in some of them bing unbelievably big.


    They decided that they could take it on if it ever came to attack them, so they ventured deeper and deeper into the forest.


    And just like that, four days passed and the trio finally reached the spot that Ssatsko wanted to show to Evin.


    The armor covering the crow was finally getting the hang of some of its abilities. It was able to affect the crow and have it perform some actions subconsciously. The crow didn''t realize that it was being affected, perhaps because it was too dumb to realize. It only thought that the actions it was performing were its instincts.


    The crow was currently flying in the central area of the forest. Aside from the asional hunts, it would spend its time searching for the two-leggednd walking creatures.


    The armor, on the other hand, wanted to have the crow leave the area, but it was unable to force the crow to leave its territory. It could only wander its territory, hoping it could find a human. It felt that their search would be fruitless for quite a long time, since not a lot of people would just wander around a forest. Thus, it spent most of its time studying its own abilities.


    It realized that it could talk inside its host''s head. Every time it said something to the raven, the big bird would look around its surroundings like it was startled, or it would just fly away in panic. It also realized that it gave its host some abilities about how to use it. It noticed that the raven was much more proficient at attacking its prey, while also being able to slightly adjust its armor to block the enemy attacks, when the prey retaliates in some ways.


    In another part of the forest, three dark-skinned individuals were walking through the forest, searching for something.


    "shin, I don''t think the item is in this forest. Our methods showed that our aim was around the area of that town, but there are vast ins around the town. If someone capable chances upon the creature, it would be much harder to retrieve it. I think we should scour the ins first," one of the iron-pierced mages said.


    "It''s not a problem to search more in this forest, we don''t know what kind of creature it has been born as. Our best bet is to search this forest methodically. We searched the town, but did not find any clues. And besides, if someone else manages to find it, then we can only employ more difficult tactics. It''s not the best option, but it will mean that we won''t be fumbling around in the dark. Besides, the forest is filled with creatures. Statistically, it is also our best bet after the town," shin answered.


    "You mean to further antagonize the kingdom? We got away with the previous few... cases, but I''m seeing a lot more mages that are loitering around town. Can''t be there to just because..."


    "Even if we can''t retrieve it, we can be sure to kill it. That will be considered seeding in the mission. As for whatever happens after that, that''s a problem for our future selves," the man shrugged.


    "And what is this creature you are searching for in the first ce? You said that it could be anything, so why can''t it be the caterpir I squashed in the morning?"


    "It can''t be that small. It''s just unscientific, you see. The most likely thing that it will be is a humanoid, and after that, the next thing that the target feels closeness to. Do you wake up some days and hope you be a caterpir in your next life?" shin said.


    "I do hope I be a tree, sometimes," grumbled the man.


    "It was a rhetorical question," smiled shin.


    His two subordinates were clearly not satisfied with the situation, but they still shut their mouths, as they found talking to their boss a waste of breath.


    After walking around the forest, they finally found some interesting tracks of a bird. It was the same track that Ssatsko found.


    "Is it a mana-beast? Why is it so small, though?" one of the men inquired.


    "Perhaps it specializes in lethality. Or perhaps It is our target. It seems that it has be a bird. A raven, most likely. See how ironic it is? The prisoner wanted wings to escape its prison, so the gods have turned him into a crow." shin said with a smile.


    "Let''s find this bird, then. Arn!"


    The man called Arn immediately cast some magic on the trails. The mage was using a veil that hid his World energy, but if someone could see him, they would see the man take on a pinkish shade. The World of Life.


    "The beast went deeper into the forest. Let''s go," Arn said after a few seconds.

 Chapter 40: The serpent under the giant tree.

    Chapter 40: The serpent under the giant tree.


    After four days of travel, Evin was getting used to life in the forest. The first few nights, he had trouble sleeping due to the cold and difort of sleeping on the ground. It was still summer, so it wasn''t that bad, but it was still cold, considering they lived in the Northern parts of the Kingdom. Especially on the night it rained from evening to sunrise.


    But after a few days, he began sleeping like a log, with some extra nkets to cover his entire body. Rith would usually opt to sleep inside his tent in a different set of nkets. They didn''t hunt for the past few days, but they still collected some edible nts and berries.


    And all in all, they had an enjoyable outing. It was Evin''s first time getting out of the city, and only now he realized how much he needed it. The rays of sunshine warming his body through the leaves and the fresh smell of trees after the rain was just what he needed to forget about his obsession with training and constant progress.


    Ssatsko taught him how to butcher the buck, but this time he kept some organs, namely its heart, liver, kidney, blood and stomach. Said that the Northerners mostly eat these out of their hunted mammals. Ssatsko cooked it for Evin to try. Evin liked the taste of its liver, the texture of its heart and kidneys, but did not enjoy its stomach and boiled blood.


    Traveling for a while like this, they reached their destination soon afterwards.


    In the deepest part of the forest, Evin saw the most enormous tree trunk he saw in his life. Its thick trunk was so wide, A hundred people would not be enough to cover its whole circumference. But sadly, it was only as tall as Evin''s house. The child could only wonder how tall had it been if it wasn''t cut off by something.


    Evin floated on top of the tree trunk and saw something else which interested him. The outer areas of the tree looked like it was cut smoothly, but the center of the tree looked like some giant hammer smashed into it and dented the tree into itself.


    "Legends say that this tree reached the heavens, allowing the denizens of this forest ess to thend of gods. The people of another empire were jealous of them, so they invaded this forest and tried to cut it off with their magic. But they couldn''t quite manage to cut itpletely, since the tree was so hard and difficult to cut. During that time, the denizens of the forest were able to mount a counterattack, killing all the invaders," Ssatsko narrated.


    "Do you believe that story?" Evin asked sarcastically.


    "Of course not, it has too many plot-holes. But listen to the end," Ssatsko smiled and continued.


    "After the fight, the tree was still cut almost fully. The tree, knowing that it would not be able to grow taller, gathered all its strength and willed to downwards, to the ground. The tree that was said to reach the heavens, was then became known to reach the depths of hell, underground Come," he said and brought the two to a cave entrance on one side of the tree.


    Entering the cave, Evin saw an unforgettable sight. The roots of the giant tree seemed like it truly reached the depths of the. Thick, majestic tree roots held patches of dirt above itself, creating something that was essentially a cave. While most caves happened because of giant rock formations creating small spaces of air underground, this one was made thanks to tree roots.


    "Fuck," Evin muttered involuntarily.


    "This isn''t even the best part," said Ssatsko and threw all the Life energy he could muster in his horn, and threw it towards the cave''s depths.


    After a few minutes, tiny little pink spheres of energy came out of the depths. They flew towards Ssatsko, enveloping the man in the strongest pink hue Evin ever saw in his life.


    After which, they surrounded Evin and Rith. They two could feel their head getting filled with new understanding about their bodies. Evin was afraid of doing anything with the World of Life, but now he was confident that he won''t mess up by ident. Rith was also happy with the sudden boon.


    Themotion died out soon after, but Evin felt a highly dangerous being approaching them. He didn''t possess an ability to notice presences, but he simply could not ignore such a beast of nature.


    The ground''s rumbling could be heard, and Evin soon saw a head of a giant snake approach his group with an unhurried pace. Evin nced at Ssatsko and found thetter calm and collected. Realizing that this was in his grandfather''s expectations, he calmed down slightly. Rith also looked surprised, but it was a look of pleasant surprise.


    Evin could finally see the full size of the snake. It was at least 50 meters long and its body was five times thicker than his grandfather''s chest.


    Ssatsko kneeled, and the two others followed after him. The snake sniffed at Evin and Rith for a bit until it lost interest. It turned around and left soon after. Seeing the snake''s whole body pass by in front of him, Evin felt like he was sitting near a railway and counting the wagons of a train that was passing by.


    He wasn''t sure, but he counted the snake to be at least a hundred meters long. The pink spheres also followed after the snake, and silence fell inside the cave once more.


    "What was that snake?" he couldn''t help but ask.


    "First of all, let''s not call it a snake, at least call it a serpent. And as for your question, that was the guardian of this forest. And the little pink things are called World Sprites. The best way to describe them would be to call them as leftovers of magic spells, given some form of intelligence, or should I say, instinct," Ssatsko said.


    "World Sprite gathering spots can be found anywhere in the World, but most of them are hidden, just like this one. When one is found and the bes public knowledge, it would soon die out, since mages woulde from all over the World to receive enlightenment regarding that one element. Also, depending on the element, some extra benefits are included as well. For example, the World of Life will give us an extended lifespan," Rith added.


    "Do you know other such ces?" Evin asked the Feline.


    "We do. In fact, if the higher-ups decide to ept you, you will be able to enter one such ce," Rith said.


    ''That''s nice. It should be one for the World of Space,'' Evin thought.


    "How did you find this ce?" he then asked his grandfather.


    "I was practicing my World of Life magic. At first, I didn''t notice anything, but soon, I found that some of the energy that was used in my spells was going in a general direction. I followed it and found this ce,"


    "Howe other mages don''t know about this ce then?"


    "As you know, these horns give us unparalleled control and sensitivity towards it''s designated World. Normal mages wouldn''t be able to tell anything different, but I was able to, thanks to my horns," Ssatsko exined.


    The exnation made sense to Evin, so he didn''t dwell on it too much. He had a few more questions to ask.


    "What was that sna- serpent doing, sniffing us and everything?"


    "Yes. When I first came to this cave, I started exploring it out of curiosity. I found the Sprites and was overjoyed, but my joy was soon shattered after I found the serpent. I thought I was going to die, but the serpent only sniffed me and went away in disappointment. I don''t know how, but it was also able tomunicate with me through my horns. Said that it was searching for a suitable host to apany. It then exined to me that it has to be a powerful mage of the World of Life," Ssatsko narrated with reverie.


    "He then said that it needed me to bring mages I trusted to him asionally, but to never let this information be public"


    "Do we also have to bring mages here?"


    "That would be nice, but I don''t think it''spulsory"


    "Do you know more about creatures simr to this serpent?" Evin asked Rith.


    "They''re officially called Beast Lords. All World Sprite gathering spots house one. This one was most likely a lucky snake who was at the right time, at the right spot. When World energy gathers for a long time, it suddenly experiences a qualitative change, and starts producing World Sprites. And if one animal absorbs most of such energy, it bes stronger and stronger, eventually bing too powerful to be called a simple mana beast. This process takes a few dozen years or even centuries, but at the end of it, they possess great intelligence and power and are highly respected by locals or the people that know about it. Also, different Worlds give unique abilities to its Beast Lords. Since the energy here is from the World of Life, that serpent would probably the most difficult Beast Lord to kill," Rith exined.

 Chapter 41: Metal skinshifter

    Chapter 41: Metal skinshifter


    "Can humans be Beast Lords?"


    "Not naturally. But the Beast Lord will start to search actively for suitable hosts. As you know, Beast Lords be more intelligent with time, and they start to yearn for freedom. Did you notice that the Sprites surrounded us when we entered the cave and dered our presence?"


    "Yes. Were they also checking us out, like the Beast Lord?"


    "Exactly. Over time, the Sprites of an area will start to think like the area''s Beast Lord," Rith smiled.


    "What happens when a Beast Lord finds a suitable host?"


    "Their body will turn into pure energy and assimte themselves into your core over time. I told you that your core grows naturally until it stops, and then requires other methods to grow bigger, right? This is one of the methods. And secondly, their consciousness will enter a designated part of your body, depending on what the Beast Lord prefers. It could be your blood, your brain, your shadow, or even your hands," the Feline exined.


    "Does that mean I''ll be as strong as these entities afterwards?"


    "No. I don''t know exactly what happens, but you will not be as strong as the original Beast Lord. You would need time to assimte the Beast Lord''s powers over time, I don''t know how long it will take to fully absorb them, but I''m sure it''s measured in decades or centuries. But it is true that your powers will grow exponentially,"


    "What about their thoughts, will I start hearing them inside my head?"


    "Yes, it will be something like a split personality inside your head. Gradually their thoughts will merge with yours. But don''t worry about it too much. The Beast Lords usually search for a host with simr thoughts to themselves,"


    "Why can''t the Beast Lords just leave by themselves?"


    "We aren''t sure why. Some say that, after they''re original birthce acts as an anchor for them, acting as a constant source of energy without which they couldn''t survive. While others say that it''s the will of the Empress," Rith shook her head.


    "What do you mean?"


    "Since they were so powerful, they needed some kind of weak point. If the Beast Lords were allowed to wander the World freely, the humans surely would not be the ones who ruled the World,"


    "They''re that powerful?" Evin felt that the serpent was strong, but not that strong.


    "Their control of a World is said to be only second to the Authorities. You should thank the Empress'' will, child," Rith smiled.


    "I feel like I''ll be able to win any argument if I involve the will of the Empress" Evin muttered.


    The armed raven finally found some traces of humans near the gigantic tree trump. There were footsteps leading to a cave under the tree, so it decided to wait and see when the humans came out. The crow did not know why it was searching for humans so diligently, but it didn''t mind. It didn''t go hungry thanks to its new weapons, so it was quite satisfied with just flying around its territory.


    Finally, the humans came out. One man, one child and a slightly big cat. Seeing them, the armor wanted to detach itself from the crow and fall near the humans. But to its dismay, the raven did not allow it to leave its body. The raven was very satisfied with its new suit of armor. Why would it allow it to go away?


    The armor was infuriated, but it realized that it couldn''t do things the easy way. It mustered all its strength and willed the raven to fight the humans. It instilled a feeling that the humans wanted its armor for themselves.


    The raven was sessfully riled up by the armor and it instantly dove towards the child, as it seemed the weakest of the bunch.


    Exiting the cave, Evin was suddenly yanked by his grandfather and pulled to his side. Then, Ssatsko put Evin down to the ground and threw a few ming arcs towards something. He was confused, but did not panic. He immediately utilized the Heavy World alongside the World of Storms to start floating. Since it was his main method of moving, other than walking, he trained for the past year to be able to do this fluently.


    Evin then searched for the enemy, but actually seeing it, he was quite shocked. It was some ck bird armed to the teeth with silver armor. Its beaks and ws were covered with some other kind of metal, which drew a crimson line in the air when it flew.


    Evin didn''t know why it was trying to attack them, but he locked on to the bird and started shooting air bullets. He could see the armor slightly shifting to protect the areas that the bird would get hit.


    "What the hell is that?!" Evin shouted at Rith.


    Rith nced at the child and shrugged indifferently.


    Evin felt some confusion at first, but after forcefully calming himself, he started thinking about the situation.


    His air bullets were too weak to affect the thing, so he decided to take on a supportive role. He took out a lodestone and started absorbing energy from the Heavy World. He directed all of it towards the bird and started to make it heavier.


    Evin had spent a lot of time thinking about what he could do in a fight, and this was one of the simpler uses he came up with.


    Rith, on the other hand, was leisurely observing the battle, like it had nothing to do with her. She could see that the bird was a normal beast, not a mana-beast. It had the element of surprise, but she knew that Ssatsko could easily take care of it after a few moments. What got her attention was the armor that was covering the bird.


    Just as she expected, one of Ssatsko''s projectiles hit the bird, as the bird was getting slower and slower due to the debuff from Evin.


    The bird fell to the ground and died not long after. The three approached the bird to see what the armor was, and the most curious thing happened in front of them. The armor that was covering the bird suddenly started transforming and took on the shape of a sword.


    The sword then started emitting a beckoning aura around itself.


    "Is that a metal skinshifter?" Rith eximed.


    "What''s that?" Evin asked.


    He heard of parasitical skinshifters and normal skinshifters, but did not hear about metal ones.


    Parasitical skinshifters were basically parasites with the same level of intelligence as a human. Normal skinshifters were humanoids who could take on the shape of any human.


    "As their name suggests, they could take on the form of any metal object. They also had the ability to change length and width mid swing, which makes them exceptionally useful for close range fighter mages. Commoners aren''t able to control them, as one needs ess to the World of Thoughts to have a mind bridge tomunicate with it," Rith exined.


    "Is it going to start controlling my thoughts if I let it touch me?"


    "Kind of It won''t be able tomand your thoughts, it will feel more like a polite suggestion, I suppose," Rith said.


    "I''m going to try it, is that okay?" Evin asked.


    Ssatsko nodded, as it was useless to him. Rith didn''t mind as well. But just as he was about to go take it, a voice came from behind him.


    "Master Evin, would you kindly retract your intentions from the object of our search?" shin and his two subordinates hade from behind them.


    The sword, noticing the three Easterners that were walking towards it, started emitting a tremendously hostile aura around itself.

 Chapter 42: The armored toddler

    Chapter 42: The armored toddler


    "shin?" Evin recognized them.


    "Yes. We''ve told you we were searching for something near your town. We''ve been searching that weapon for a long time, and finally, we found a clue that it was near this area,"


    "Tell me more?" Evin asked in response.


    "It is like this; our country found some ruins which depicted the drawing of that sword and some other writings. We weren''t able to understand the words for a long time, but we managed to decode it a month ago. Thanks to that, we found the location of the sword, which was this forest," shin made up some story randomly.


    He did not bother to think of something borate or believable.


    "Doesn''t that mean that this sword belongs to no one? Since I found it first, why should I give it to you?" Evin asked.


    The question irked shin, and he said threateningly.


    "We have our orders, I don''t want to hurt a Child to aplish it, so it would be best advised if you return it without resistance," shin talked while getting close to Evin.


    Strangely, Rith and Ssatsko were silent throughout the conversation, letting Evin talk for the group. Rith, because she was judging Evin, and Ssatsko, because he felt that Evin was older than them, so he didn''t feel that much superior to the child.


    Evin did not feel threatened by the three. He knew that they could leave at any time thanks to Rith.


    Evin smiled and grabbed the Sword. Just as he grabbed it, the sword seemed to be mad as it hurriedly engulfed the child with silver armor. At his hands, a small silver dagger formed, its edges coated with crimson. With the armor and the weapon, and with the fact that Evin looked like a two-year-old, the child looked like some fucked-up war''s designated mascot.


    ''Brave warriors of the kingdom! Participate in the war, so this child doesn''t have to!'' a passionate voice seemed to echo in Evin''s mind.


    Aside from managing to find a joke in this situation, he also got some enlightenment on how to utilize the armor and the dagger.


    "You brat!" shin screamed and jumped towards the child.


    The easterner was met with Ssatsko, who deftly managed to block the mage''s sword. But for only a second. shin utilized his racial talent and became invincible. shin''s clothing and even his sword became permeable like a spirit.


    The Easterner phased through Ssatsko and ran towards Evin with his sword raised up high.


    "Shit!" Ssatsko let out and ran towards Evin.


    But just before he could hit him, the armor moved on its own to block the attack. The impact shocked the child, but Evin managed to get hold of himself and started floating away from the Easterner and flew towards Rith. shin wanted to give chase, but was stabbed on his back by Ssatsko and then a ming arc cut off his arm. He grunted in pain. He did not expect the Northerner to be this brutal, but it was not the first time he was injured in such a way. He promptly took out his lodestones and began healing himself.


    shin''s subordinates were running towards the battle, while shooting rock pellets towards Evin. A few dozen fist-sized rocks flew towards the kid, but Evin utilized the wind to swerve most of the attacks aside. For the few that managed to still hit him, armor''s protection was enough to protect him. Thankfully, the armor could detach itself from Evin''s body, so that the impact from the blows did not affect the child itself. Ssatsko was also helping by blocking some rocks for the child.


    It was a powerful attack, but it seemed a bit underwhelming, considering the opponents should''ve been at least quarter-core mages. Evin could argue that even he, with his stilted talent, could do better than that with a bigger core.


    ''Is that the reduced talent with other Worlds of other races that Aran was talking about? I thought that the mages would be able to do so much more, considering the amount of lodestones they''re using''


    Evin then noticed that the amount of mana in the air became much more abundant than before. He realized that the two mages'' attacks spent a lot of lodestones, but they still wasted a lot of mana. Evin shook his head and shouted at Ssatsko toe to his side, so they could teleport away from the ce, but his armor said otherwise.


    [KILL THEM!] a voice raged inside Evin''s head. It spoke fluid Imperial.


    "Who the fuck are you?!" screamed Evin, startled by the sudden voice roaring inside his ears.


    [SHUT UP AND JUST KILL!] the voice shouted back.


    "What''s happening?" Rith asked Evin.


    "There''s a voice in my head or something! It''s telling me to kill those Easterners!" Evin exined the situation as best as he could.


    "That means it''s a metal-skinshifter that''s also a Child of the Empress! You have to fulfill its wish!" Rith eximed hurriedly.


    "How the fuck do you expect me to kill three mages, when you three fuckers taught me jack shit about magic!" Evin was obviously talking about Rith, Aran and Ssatsko. Everything Evin knew was self-taught. He could hold his own againstmoners, but mages were apletely different thing.


    "I''ll hold the two mages, you two somehow kill shin," Rith said with confidence.


    "Can''t you just get us out of here!" Evin asked


    "No, you have to fulfill its wish. Just trust me!"


    Evin looked at the three mages and could see shin grabbing his hand and reattaching it to the cut. His stab wound on his back seemed already healed. Evin could not see the man taking on a pink hue, like he would expect, since the enemy was wearing something to hide their World energies.


    Evin realized he was seeing the abnormal healing abilities of Easterners. He also realized he saw the man be literally invincible, when he phased through Ssatsko to run at him.


    "Fucking bullshit racial abilities!" he cursed and nced towards Ssatsko. Evin expected to see worry on the old man''s face, but thetter just nodded back with a smile, clearly confident in their victory.


    Evin didn''t know why he was so confident. There were three mages on the other side, most likely trained professionals, while on his side, there was a magical cat, an old man who wasn''t even a proper mage and an armored toddler. Not to mention the armored toddler had someone screaming inside his head.


    "Kill them already!" the voice continued, but it seemed more calm and less loud than before.


    "Shut up for a second, I''m trying to think," Evin murmured.


    Evin gave up on resisting the flow and thought about winning the battle.


    ''If I trust Rith, and if she could take care of the two other mages like she said, then we really do have a chance of victory,'' Evin thought.


    He got some lodestones out of his pocket and channeled the World of Fire.


    He was afraid he couldn''t focus on his flight properly, since he was using three Worlds at the same time, but thanks to his constant flight training, the mental pressure was manageable.


    He summoned his blue mes and willed them to float above near his hand, ready to shoot them at a moment''s notice. He looked quite valiant, along with his silver armor and blue mes surrounding him.

 Chapter 43: Fighting mages

    Chapter 43: Fighting mages


    Some hesitation became apparent on the Easterners, after they saw the blue mes.


    ''What? How can he achieve that already? What kind of a mage was he in his previous life?'' shin thought with worry.


    The two others did not know about the truth of the Children, so they were even more confused. To them, the fact that a child with a measly beginner level core being able to achieve a blue me was simply too absurd.


    They also did not think that the child was using an illusion, since they could clearly see the hue Evin was emitting.


    But shin was thinking inside the World of Thoughts and found some matters a bit weird. The kid was too inexperienced, first of all. Why would he not use World Chameleon skins to veil his energy hues? Also, his general movement and decision-making was okay, but nothing that indicated a seasoned warrior. Even if he was a mage in his previous life that did not focus on fighting, they would still have had to go through some sort of training in their lives.


    ''Natural talent?'' shin wondered.


    That exined a lot of things. Perhaps he was amoner in his previous life, but was too unlucky and did not receive a mana-core from his birth. But since he was reincarnated this time, and also received a mana-core, he could finally put his talents to use.


    The more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed to him. He felt a bit wasteful to cull such a young genius, but there was nothing he could do about it now.


    There was a battle to be had, and such unnecessary thoughts were a hindrance. shin exited the World of Thoughts and immediately ordered his subordinates to attack, but found them inside a box-shaped prison of portals, unable to move anywhere. Not only that, the old man was running towards him with a bright-red dagger in his hand, one heated to its limits. If the old man cut shin with that, the easterner would need extra mana to fix his body, since the wound would be cauterized slightly.


    Ssatsko was shin''s equal when it came to meleebat, maybe even better than his opponent. Since he would be at a disadvantage with his short dagger against the Easterner''s longsword, he fearlessly got close to the Easterner and stuck on to him like a leech. shin fell into a passive state, since he couldn''t swing his sword to his heart''s content, but his attempts to create distance were all foiled by the seasoned warrior.


    Moreover, Ssatsko also had better control over his fire magic. The burning dagger''s reach kept changing throughout the fight, giving the Easterner many small wounds over the course of the fight, forcing him to waste mana on healing himself.


    Ssatsko also utilized many small, but impactful maneuvers in the fight. Aside from his mes acting as extra reach for his dagger, he sometimes shed his mes to blind his enemy briefly, randomly attacked with ming arcs to threaten his enemy''s blind-spots. He also used the World of Life to harden his skin for a few seconds, so that shin''s sword strokes did not hurt him too badly. He also seemed to invigorate himself with short bursts of strength, constantly using his pink horn to his advantage.


    The Easterner tried to best Ssatsko with his magic, but he simply could not match the peerless control that the horns granted. He also used his invincibility throughout the fight, but Ssatsko was already getting used to dealing with it.


    Just like how every ability had limitations, the invincible state was not perfect. One could not cancel their invulnerable state when their limbs or invincible objects were in another person''s body, and it could not be used indefinitely. Abusing these two points, Ssatsko was able to keep the battle in a tie.


    Rith kept her promise and locked the two others in a portal prison. It was a box with its walls made out of portals which lead to the wall on the opposite side. Try to go left, you appear from the right side, try to go forward and you see yourself from behind. Try to go up, but you will be met with a normal wall. Even if they tried to phase through the portal with their invincibility, they would find that it wasn''t effective.


    It was an ability that was easily solved if you were a talented mage of the World of Space, but the two obviously weren''t such talents. They could only twiddle with their thumbs and hope their leader wins against the old man.


    Evin saw how easily Rith took care of the two mages. He took a nce at the Feline, but found her leisurely looking back at him. She looked like she could easily take care of the other mage too, but she simply chose not to. It was obviously a test of some sorts for him.


    He neared the battle between shin and Ssatsko, while hiding himself in the shadows of the trees. He realized how dumb and impossible it was to try to shoot shin down with fire when the Easterner was brawling with his grandfather, so he canceled all his other Worlds and channeled the Dark World. He was trying to deal a decisive blow to the Easterner from the shadows.


    One would say that it would not have an effect on the fight, since the Easterner could easily heal his wounds, but one thing gave him courage to do so.


    The voice in his armor seemed to have settled down greatly, as it was calmly exining its abilities to the Child.


    [I can hurt him in a way that makes it impossible for him to recover shortly! Get behind them stealthily and shank the bastard in his ass, ] it was saying in Evin''s head.


    Evin thought the voice meant "in his back", but did not ask the voice for rification.


    [Also, don''t worry about him returning the blow to you, as long as you can hurt him, I''ll be able to protect you from harm, using the armor part of my body!]


    Evin decided to trust the armor''s words, since he saw it do the same with the bird and himself, so he was silently waiting for an opportunity in the shadows. And soon, his long-awaited opportunity came to him.


    Ssatsko finally managed to trip shin towards where Evin was waiting and the child did not hesitate to use the chance. Also, fighting Ssatsko took most of his attention, so the Easterner did not expect Evin''s sudden ambush.


    Evin violently stabbed with the dagger towards shin''s side. He tried to take it out quickly and run away, but could not manage the strength to do so. He panicked and did not think to just leave the dagger and leave.


    shin suddenly felt a sharp pain on his side and found a toddler sticking a dagger inside him and also trying to take it out. He brutally swung his sword at the child, but the armor managed to protect Evin from harm. But the impact still affected him greatly, so he was knocked back a few meters. He felt that his ribs were cracked, so he immediately let go of every World energy inside him and took on as much World of Life Energy his mana-core could handle.


    Since he received the enlightenment from the World Sprites, he was able to confidently fix his ribs without worrying for consequences.


    shin, on the other hand, took out the dagger that was stabbed inside him, but was shocked to find himself unable to heal the wound on his side. Evin also managed to get his kidneys, so it also should have hurt like hell.


    Unable to focus on the fight properly due to the injury, he soon died at Ssatsko''s mes after exchanging a few blows.


    Rith, judging that the battle was over, swiftly willed two portals to fall over the two mages'' heads and forcefully cancelled the portals when it was at their necks, decapitating the two.


    "I can see why you seemed so confident in winning the fight," said Evin towards Ssatsko, after seeing what Rith just did.


    "Cosmic Felines are the Easterner''s worst enemies. I don''t know why they would try to fight us with such a disadvantage. But I supposed they underestimated Rith''s abilities. They most likely thought that she could only take care of one of them," Ssatsko replied.


    "You''re also very strong, I can''t believe you can go toe-to-toe with an actual mage," Evin said, genuinely impressed with his grandfather. The old man did not even look spent.


    "I''m a twin-horn. I received enough training in the North to handle a few weak mages," the old man shrugged.


    "That''s unimportant. Tell me what the voice is saying," Rith interrupted the two''s gloating.


    "I don''t know, he went silent after we killed those guys. He tried to say something to me, but then he screamed like he was hurt really badly. Now can you tell me why we needed to kill these people so desperately?"


    "Normal metal skinshifters usually choose their wielders randomly. They have some form of intelligence, but it''s mostly just instinct. There''s no method for someone to force the weapon to choose it. They can wield it, sure, but they can never dig out its full potential. Reincarnated metal skinshifters, on the other hand, can obviously be reasoned with. And what do you think is the best way to have it cooperate with you? I suppose fulfilling its wishes would be one way to do it," Rith concluded.


    "You mean that people could be reincarnated into different races?"


    "Of course"


    As they were talking, the voice reappeared inside Evin''s head.


    [Not bad, kid. You must be one of those Children of the Goddess or something, right? Thanks for killing those bastards for me] the voice resounded in his head.

 Chapter 44: Karan

    Chapter 44: Karan


    "Oh, you''re back, what happened? You seemed like you were in a lot of pain," Evin suddenly said.


    [I can''t tell you what I want to tell for a reason that I also can''t exin to you] the voice said enigmatically.


    "What''s he saying?" Rith asked with interest.


    "It said that it he can''t tell me what he wants to tell me because of a reason, which he also can''t exin," Evin said.


    "Ah, it must be the thing. But isn''t it supposed to be washed away after one dies? Why does his follow after him?" Rith and Ssatsko questioned.


    Evin was undoubtedly starting to believe that to receive the education of a mage, one had to go through some unusually unpleasant procedures.


    [Hey, don''t call me it, I''m a proper person and my name is Karan, though I don''t have ast name]


    "Hello, Karan, my name is Eviendra, Evin for short. How did you end up in this forest, with a crow as a host?" Evin asked out loud.


    [I don''t know much, but I suppose I was reincarnated and became one of the Empress'' Blessed. I can''t tell you some things, but I think I can exin my general situation in a simple manner]


    Then, Karan told the group about what he could talk about.


    He was born as a human orphan in slums of Tower City, living life as a street urchin, begging and thieving to stay alive. One day, a number of orphans were abducted by some unidentified people and taken away to the East. He was one of such orphans, and he became an experimental subject of that organization. Sadly, the only thing he could disclose to the group was that it was located in the East, judging by the staff and constantly dry atmosphere.


    Karan could not tell what exactly they were researching, but it gave him the ability to nullify the effects of the World of Life and also ignore the invincibility of the Layeq people. He was usually heavily controlled, but thanks to an opportunity which allowed him to use his powers freely, he managed to kill a bunch of the people there and also kill himself in the process. He knew that the only way to truly free himself would be to die, so he did not hesitate to suicide.


    He actually knew shin, as one of thebat members of that organization. Karan could sometimes see shin guarding him when he was being transported from one ce to another.


    Evin asked Karan about how the organization could track him after he died, but Karan was not allowed to tell him. He reassured Evin that they can''t know where he is exactly. They only know where his soul went to after he died. Evin was very interested in how they tracked Karan''s soul. It was something he was trying to learn more about, since it was one of the things he was trying to research about in his new life in Alvox.


    Karan then continued his story. He was unconscious for a long time, but after some point, he finally realized that he was still alive. But for some reason, he was in control of a shifting metal body. He spent many days trying to assume the shape of a human, but every time he tried to do so, he would find himself in unbearable pain. The only forms he could safely assume were the forms of various weapons and armor. So, giving up on taking the form of a human, he started trying out the various actions he could take in the form of a sword. He realized that he could beckon living beings closer to himself. Using that ability, he finally managed to stick on to a raven. He also triedmunicating with it, but, sadly, the crow did not understand Imperial. He spent some time with the crow while it hunted and realized that his anti-Layeq powers were still with him.


    He then tried to have the crow leave its territory in search of humanoids, but he could not force it to do anything. He could only slightly influence the creature. But he still made the crow fly around its territory in search of humans, and he finally found Evin''s group. He tried to detach itself from the crow, but for some reason, he couldn''t cut the connections so easily. All he could do was to influence the crow to attack Evin''s group.


    The rest was as the group experienced. But right after the connection between Karan and the raven was forcefully cut off, he suffered an awfully unpleasant experience, which was the crow''s death. That made him scream incoherently inside Evin''s head for a few minutes.


    After the fight finished, he tried to tell Evin about the organization, but was faced with another horridly unpleasant experience, the reasons which only Evin did not fully know.


    "Will that organizatione back to find trouble with us?"


    [Those damn bastards wille here again to learn about what happened to the three mages they sent. But I''m having a feeling that if they don''t find anything, they will give up rather than try to find trouble around here. The feeling I got from those rats was that they meticulously avoided the countries and the official organizations. They''ll surely go the extra mile to uncover my position, but they can''t go overboard. Maybe I''m wrong, but that''s what I''m thinking, ] Karan said.


    "Does that mean if we stay low for a bit we''ll be fine afterwards?" Evin asked.


    [Nothing''s for sure, but I do hope you''re right,]


    Evin exined what he heard from Karan to the other two.


    "Ssatsko, can you search their bodies for a tracing object of any kind?" Rith ordered.


    The old man did as ordered and brought back the mages'' possessions. In total, they found 50 kilograms worth of crystal-grade lodestones, two daggers, a sword, a storage ring, some book that was written in Eastern and a symbol depicting a dozen small stars surrounding a big star.


    Then Rith fiddled with the storage ring and opened its contents. The group was shocked with what was contained in it. Dozens of bodies of young children, mostly newborns, littered the storage ring.


    "What''s this?" Evin couldn''t help but ask.


    "I''ve heard from the guard at the gates that there were several cases of missing children in the town. To think that these easterners were the cause behind them..." Ssatsko said.


    "What?"


    "I''d guess that they realized that Karan had be a Child of the Empress. Where do you think they would search for first?" Ssatsko asked.


    "Then does that mean that when they came to my house, they were actually looking to kill me?"


    "Well, obviously the time period between Karan''s death and your age don''t add up, so they probably did not intend to kill you," Ssatsko said.


    Other than that, the storage ring contained food, camping equipment, spare daggers, another 70 kgs of rock-grade lodestones and a bunch of misceneous and personal objects.


    The amount of lodestones the mages possessed suggested that they were quarter-core mages.


    Thest two possessions were taken from shin''s body, and Kn started reading the book.


    [Religion of the Ascendants? What''s this shit? ] he cursed out.


    Evin exined how he first met shin and how the man tried to pull him to his new religion.


    Hearing the answer, Karan fell unusually silent.


    "What happened?" Evin asked.


    [I realize that I cannot tell you about this religion as well, ] the man said in an unnaturally proper way. The man would always curse whenever he talked, so such a way of talking made Evin abnormally terse.


    This behavior hinted at something sinister to Evin. The fact that the Religion of Ascendants were somehow connected to that organization that captured Karan was quite unexpected.


    Evin told Rith about Karan''s new answer. The Cosmic seemed like she did not expect the answer, but still knew something about the matter.


    "Well, there''s nothing we can do for now. And I''ve also checked their belongings, they didn''t have any tracing devices, so what do you want to do with them?" Rith asked, back to her Cosmic, professional personality.


    "Ssatsko, what do you think? I mean, we did just murder some foreigners in a forest. Hopefully, no one knows about it, but I still feel like there are risks," Evin asked.


    He did not feel very confident about this matter at all. First of all, was it really okay to just murder a few people which had some conflict with you. Not even mentioning morals. What were the political implications for this action?


    ''Well, I guess politics shouldn''t really matter for us, since they''ve literally killed a few dozen children


    "These things aren''t as rare as you''re making it out to be. I don''t know how it was like in your World, but here, only the strong are right. Two parties wanted that sword, and ultimately it led to violence. Nothing unusual. Especially so since they''re from another country. And as Karan said, these people aren''t really affiliated to the East, so there''s also that," Ssatsko exined.


    "Then let''s burn the bodies and go back to town. We didn''t find anything interesting, so there''s no need to dawdle on this topic. Let''s go back home," Evin said.


    "What about the children''s corpses?" Ssatsko asked.


    "Ugh, shit... Although I''d love to let the families know about them, I feel that it''s best for us to keep our involvement hidden. We''ll carry the storage ring back to town and try to give it to the Mage Association anonymously," Evin said and the three proceeded with the agreed n.


    After finishing the dark work, they went on their way home.


    While on the journey, Evin asked Karan a few other questions.


    "Can you turn into something a little more low-profile?"


    [I don''t think I can. Strangely enough, when I be smaller, my weight also gets reduced. Look,] Karan replied and turned into a dagger.


    Just as he said, Karan''s weight became much more bearable for Evin.


    "How does that work?"


    [I don''t know, I''ve just been able to do it naturally, but I don''t know the exact reasons. And also, when I turn into something that''s not meant for battle, I feel extremely unpleasant. So I don''t want to do that]


    Hearing the answer, Evin replied after a few minutes.


    "Do you know there''re rings that are made for assassinations? They put a small prick on the ring and coat it with poison. And if you shake hands while wearing that ring, you can inconspicuously poison someone without them knowing it. Try turning into that"


    [Sure, let me try]


    Karan did as instructed and turned into a ring which had a little spike on it''s outside.


    [Hey, that worked, I''m not feeling weird, likest time. I don''t get this shitty fucking race. Why the hell are they so hellbent on hurting people, that they refuse to take on a form that doesn''t try to kill someone in one way or another,] Karan grumbled.


    Evin wore the ring and found that it didn''t weigh as much.


    "Your weight changing ability is so mystical. With this, you cany low for the time being," Evin said and walked on.


    Rith then came to Evin and told him that his bank profit money is starting to umte.

 Chapter 45: Profit and projects

    Chapter 45: Profit and projects


    "Abvelgail just sent me some money. Says it''s for you. Here, 144 gold coins,12 silver and 64 bronze," Rith said and took out a bulging coin purse from somewhere. Evin took it in his hand and started counting. Sure enough, the stated amount was in the purse.


    ''Just send me 144 gold. Why did that OCD inflected bastard have to send me a bunch of bronze coins,'' grumbled Evin.


    "Oh yeah, I told you to send it monthly when the total ie exceeds 100 gold. Seems like your new business is starting to thrive," replied Evin.


    "We made about 120000 gold''s worth of ie in the past month. Adding on the rest, we made 144126.43 gold''s worth of ie for the past eight months. It''s much more profitable from what we tried previously," Rith said with a smile.


    ''Wait, ain''t I short of 0.3 bronze coins? This is ridiculous!'' Evin thought, but the idea of his profits increasing gradually made him feel happy.


    "That''s great! Though you seem happier than me, why is that?"


    "I receive 0.1 percent of the ie, since I''m technically in control of you and your project," Rith replied with a smile.


    "What?! What is this tant nepotism?! I made all the effort and you get all the benefits? Gimme half of that and pray to the Empress for forgiveness," Evin replied in an outrage.


    "Shush, don''t call it effort. We both know you did nothing"


    "I existed! If I didn''t exist, you''d still be looking for some dumb little kids and trying to talk them into buying your services!"


    "Hey, existing isn''t that hard either. I''m pretty sure everyone on this World is doing it pretty sessfully," Rith grinned.


    "Fuck off! Do you know how many years I spent just to receive the right to exist alongside you people. And what do I get? Constant verbal abuse and now I''m also getting abused for mybor," Evin murmured.


    "Boo-hoo. The story of the sad, sad spirit," Rith said with a gleeful smile.


    "Go away, I don''t wanna talk to you anymore"


    "No, wait, wait. I need you to evaluate some projects. You have to do it. If you don''t, you''re gonna turn into a gold coin forever,"


    "Say that first, then! Why do you have to destroy my will to work, and only then tell me there''s work to be done!?"


    "Oh, shut yourints. Life isn''t fair. Here you go. That''s the list of projects, and if you''re interested in one of them, I have the full files of each of them in my storage," Rith said, and a few documents appeared in Evin''s hands through a portal.


    ''How do Felines even make documents like these?'' A thought nced through Evin''s head.


    He took a nce at the page and found many ideas and business pitches.


    "Road building project that connects the capitals of the countries with Tower City,"


    "cksmithing shop that specializes in customized armor for your pets,"


    "Mass ntations for an indigenous fruit,"


    "Artificial Ivari Horn production,"


    "A toypany that specializes in puzzles,"


    "Refreshment store that sells beverage made from a unique roast of a bean that originates from the East,"


    "Pill that givesmoners the same amount of sexual stamina as mages,"


    "Beer with 48 percent alcohol by volume,"


    "Automated cksmithing with the support of golems,"


    "Book renting store"


    "Financialpany that pivots towards poor citizens,"


    And a bunch of clothingpanies.


    Looking at the list, Evin realized that the Cosmics could slowly learn about Earth through these projects that he had to givements on.


    And thinking about it, Evin also reasoned that the deal he made with the Cosmics was also much too disadvantageous for him. He probably could''ve asked for a higher percentage, but he chose not to.


    ''Well, it''s understandable, since I was feeling super insecure after that attack from Norna...''


    He just wanted some control over his life, so he jumped into a losing deal with the Cosmics. He wasn''t someone perfect after all...


    ''And now they''re trying to dig out information about Earth from me... Well I agreed to tell them about it, so it would be stupid of the Cosmics to not use the chance...'' Evin pondered.


    ''But do I care?''


    Evin thought a bit more and decided that he really didn''t care. Living in society was all about winning and losing. Sometimes you lost, and you had to ept it as part of life. It wasn''t possible to always win.


    Even if there came a day when he needed more money, Evin would just curse his stupidity and try to think of another way to sell his ideas.


    And besides, It wasn''t like he was trying to be the richest man in Alvox, he wasn''t someone so fixated on money.


    Shaking his head, Evin took another look at the list and removed the ones he thought were doomed from start, book renting store and the customized pet armor. The first was basically a library and while thetter might have customers at first, it would soon die out since no pet would want to wear such a thing.


    Financialpany for the poor sounded nice on the surface, but it was basically trying to do what the bank did, but in a much riskier environment. Not only that, they would be in the debt of a bank, so that one was also a no-go.


    Evin was interested in the projects that had magic involved in it, so he looked at the full project of the automated cksmithing project. The project sounded nice, but it was very, very expensive. One golem required about 120 gold up front and its yearly maintenance costs were half of that. Evin told Rith that if they should ept it, they should only advertise it towards the super-rich.


    The artificial Ivari Horn project was very interesting to Evin, but it was starting to look like a scam from what he could see in the project file.


    The indigenous nt looked like a mango. For some stupid reason, the project pitcher did not bring a real mango to demonstrate its vor, instead he decided to write a dozen page essay about it. As for how he was going to nt it, he wanted to simte the proper environment using magic. This one received a pass from Evin.


    The unique bean, on the other hand, turned out to be coffee beans. The definition was: "Slightly bitter, but it has the ability to keep the drinker awake". And it had the picture of the thing which was undoubtedly a coffee bean. The Cosmics were unsure, since the thing tasted like rubbish for first-time drinkers, so they decided to ask Evin. It obviously received a pass from him. He even put in a bunch of ideas on how to make the thing more tasty. This project was the most promising for Evin, so he asked Rith if he could be an investor for this business, and thetter approved it, not really thinking much about it.


    The toy puzzles were quite interesting as well. Since most of the puzzles were created using wood the finished product was quite cheap. But the project pitcher wanted capital to train a bunch of low-ss citizens so he had enough workforce.


    He also agreed to the 48% alcoholic beer. Why not? People would be interested. And the price wasn''t that big either.


    The stamina pills also got Evin''s approval. If it worked, then it would probably be one of the most sessful businesses in the World. Just look at Viagra sales. Even if it didn''t, it was just one project, the Cosmics could withstand one failure.


    The clothing shops, though, were a bit hard for him. He didn''t know what the fashion was for the era, so he could only say the truth to Rith. The Feline asked what kind of fashion his home was keen to, and Evin pointed out some of the clothes that looked simr to Earth for Rith.


    The road project was also quite difficult. Even though the Empire was supposed to be a unified entity, reality was a bit different. Three of countries were at war with each other, with only the North in a rtively peaceful state. Not to mention the South was a bit problematic to build a road to In the end, he gave the project back to Rith, saying that it''s nice if it actually worked, but there were too many problems in the process.


    But he indicated that it might be risky, but it was something that was going to happen at one point anyway, so if the Cosmics spearheaded it, their influence would be immense.


    Finally done with his work, they continued his journey home.


    Karan looked at the amount of gold the kid and the Feline was casually discussing, and could not help but feel greedy. He was thinking about leaving the kid after he found civilization, but the riches the kid possessed were definitely not small. The skinshifter would end up in someone''s hands anyway, so why not this kid?


    The trip home was uneventful, and they reached the forest''s entrance after a couple days. They managed to hunt another deer on the way back and decided to bring it home. Nearing the end, Evin asked Karan about what he wanted to do when he reached the town.


    Karan replied that he didn''t have a n, so he didn''t mind sticking with Evin''s family. He wanted to know more about his race, so he could decide on what to do in the future.


    Evin did not mind, since he hoped that Karan would opt to stay with him in the future. A shape-shifting weapon was very useful to have.


    The four finally reached their house. Evin wondered what kind of conclusion his parents reached.

 Chapter 46: Lora

    Chapter 46: Lora


    Lora spent most of her time alone and pondering. Even more so after Evin told the truth of his origins and left for the forest.


    Today was like the previous seven days, and she was sitting on a couch that Evin gifted her on her birthday, slouching on her back.


    She was thinking about what it meant to be someone''s mother. Was it okay for a twenty something year old woman to raise a child who lived three hundred years in his past life? Was there even any point in that? Wasn''t the child supposed to teach his mother life lessons?


    But thinking about it, Lora did not really have to teach Evin anything. He was born like he knew everything. The child began to speak when he was only two months old and taught Lora how to be a 2nd grade citizen.


    After that, he taught himself magic and guided his family through that dreadful experience, doing practically everything alone. When Lora thought about the things that they did when Norna''s hired men surrounded Liza''s house, she would realize that the only reason they were alive was thanks to Evin''s instructions.


    Although the carnage and brutality that ensued afterwards was terrifying, Lora could understand that it needed to be done, or else it would be them, who would be lying dead on that corridor.


    And after killing Evin and Theor, the intruders would probably have their fill of fun with the women as well.


    When Lora''s father first brought Elina into the house, Norna took fancy of her and started eyeing her. Lora knew that Norna was a demoted 1st grade citizen, since he was exiled from a family of knights.


    The man felt naturally superior than everyone else and did not think twice before kidnapping assaulting Elina. The poor girl was only 12 at the time and the experience traumatized her greatly. She would have trouble talking to anyone who had a big figure and she would start panicking when she found herself alone in the streets.


    Thankfully, Ssatsko noticed something was wrong and managed to stop everything halfway. He scarred Norna with his knife and after that, Norna started to act more in line. Theor wished to quit his job at the inn, but after he was wounded, Norna was like a changed man. He showed extreme sincerity when dealing with the aftermath, and even though Elina was still afraid of him, Lora and Theor felt like he was sincere in his apologies. He even looked humbled after everything But it seemed that everything was an act.


    Lora was d that Norna died. And thinking of the child that made it all happen, Lora couldn''t help but be in shock. And it wasn''t like the boy was a bloodthirsty monster. Lora heard from Liza, how there are cases of criminals being reincarnated and bing the Children of the Empress, but Lora never saw a criminal in Evin.


    He was instead like the golden star of her family.


    Only two years old, and he even somehow brought more money than thebined umtions of both his parents during their entire lives. The child showed his family so many things that they thought impossible. Only thanks to him, they realized that they lived in a World full of magic, where you didn''t need to burn coal to stay warm in the winter, you simply needed use devices that were imbued with magic.


    She also thought a lot about the life of people, how problems would pop out one after even when one''s life seemsplete from the outside. When Lora was younger, she was shocked when people said that the rich still faced problems like the poor faced. She thought it impossible. The rich had enough money to keep their family well-fed and well-dressed their entire life. What else problems should one face?


    But after experiencing the life of rich families herself, she found that it did not meet her expectations. Nothing really changed in Lora''s life after she started to livefortably. She still made a bunch of trinkets and other essories to sell. She would spend most of her time at work, taking care of the house with Elina, or watching Evin practice his magic, though the act scared her greatly sometimes.


    She also wasn''t one to spend that much money in the first ce as well. The lifestyle of the rich looked frivolous to her. Perhaps it was because she spent a portion of her life in total poverty, or because she felt bad for spending all of her son''s money; Lora felt that she didn''t deserve such riches. Theor also felt the same sentiment. He stubbornly continued his work in the bakery, even though the pay was only a fraction of what Evin brought.


    They were feeling overwhelmed with everything that happened, but they still felt proud of their child and they were slowly getting used to the situation The child was perfect in the eyes of others, and the family thought so as well.


    But When they were told of the reason for their boy''s genius, they felt cheated.


    She knew it wasn''t a fair word to use. The child did not ask to be reincarnated as their son. It was all the work of fate. The work of the Empress. Not only that, the child made all those achievements and did not hesitate to share it with his new family. He actively tried to give back to his family, as if he was just happy that he was able to be born in it.


    Lora did not feel fake love from the child, nor did she feel forced emotions from her child. But she could tell that the child was hesitant when it came to getting close to his new family. He would shy away from hugs and kisses, he did not like to receive gifts from his parents. When the child woke up in the night to pee, he would never ask for help. Instead, he silently floated through the house like a ghost and slowly opened the door to the bathroom, afraid of waking others.


    But he still shared with his new family everything he earned.


    Lora did not understand such behaviors. Before she knew the truth, she found her child cute and adorable, even after the incident. But after she was told about Evin''s true nature, she could not help but think of many negative thoughts.


    Lora wondered if these actions showed distrust or if the child was trying to push his family away. Did the child not trust his family? Did he think his family''s love would be a weakness for him? Or did he not want such love in the first ce?


    Not only that, she carried the child for eight months in her belly. To think she was so eagerly waiting for the birth, just to have a three hundred-year-old man toe out of her


    Honestly, it was a disgusting thought. She did not want to admit such feelings, but it was what she felt when she heard of Evin talking about his previous life. Such a cute little boy on the outside, but in truth, a wrinkling old man on the inside.


    What was she supposed to feel? She knew such thoughts were unfair and most likely wrong.


    Perhaps Evin only felt undeserving of the attention, so he shied away from it.


    ''That''s a positive thought'' Lora thought. She tried to make heads or tails of the situation and she noticed one thing.


    The boy, or the old man Whoever it was, he obviously cared. At least that was one truth. If he didn''t care, he would either reveal truth offhandedly, or he would try to hide it as much as possible.


    Even if it''s a ploy to get on our good side, there''s no reason for him to do so. He obviously has the ability to take care of himself, and he''s very close with his Cosmic observer. They spend all day together and half of the time they''re bickering like little kids and the other half, they''re training. Lora understood that the Cosmic''s job was to monitor Evin, but she still felt shocked when the Feline would literally spend all her time with Evin.


    ''Perhaps they''re of simr age, so they have a lot of things inmon? I still don''t know how old is Rith'' Lora wondered. Shaking her head, she sighed and took out a cigar that was hidden under something in her desk and lit it.


    Taking a puff, she slouched deeper into the couch and felt rxed. She took a nce around her surroundings. Everything she was using was bought with the 50 golden coins that Evin obtained.


    "I''m such an ungrateful person," she muttered.


    She didn''t mind receiving the benefits that her son gave to his family, but when he revealed the reasons, the situation suddenly feels a little too sketchy for her.


    As she was thinking of such things, the door opened and Theor came in and saw Lora with a cigar sticking out of her mouth.


    "Taking up your old habits, eh? I get it I get it," the man muttered with a smile. Theor took off his jacket and threw it on the door. Lora always told him to put it on something else, but the man never listened. He took off his boots and then went to give Lora a kiss and then frowned.


    "Should''ve known you would taste like some crunched up cigar stick," heined.


    "You taste like a day-old greasy stew," Lora retorted, "And you smell like burnt oil And some kind of fish?"


    ''When did we have fish in the bakery?'' Lora thought. She and Elina stopped working in the bakery, since Theor hired some workers and took over entirely. The two women began to work on their education and mannerisms, since it was obvious that at some point, Evin would be considered a mage and the family would be 1st grade citizens. They might even be nobility, depending on Evin''s achievements.


    "Fine, fine, I''m gonna go take a bath after a shit," Theor said proudly and went to the bathroom. The man was obsessed with the thing, always mentioning how he was going to bathe or shit in in thing.


    ''I understand that you like the bathroom, but you don''t have to dere your intentions every time you use it,'' Lora thought with a smile.


    Lora never knew how she ended up marrying this man. She, Lisa, Aran and Theor were childhood friends. Lora actually liked Aran more, but s, that man''s fate was with Lisa. Even though Aran was going to study in Arcvallen, the two lovers promised to marry when Aran came back. Lora knew that something like that was inevitable, but she still felt saddened when it really happened.

 Chapter 47: The decision

    Chapter 47: The decision


    A lot of men came tofort her when she was down, but she didn''t give face to any of them, since she didn''t want to make a mistake when she was wallowing in despair. She also started smoking around that time as well.


    She thought that Theor woulde tofort her like all the others, and she was nning to reject him as well, but her childhood friend never approached her in that way during those times. He would still have to be friends with her, but he never hinted for more. He never badmouthed Aran for leaving them behind, and he never told her that he''ll be a better man than Aran.


    After that moment, Lora started to be more and more interested in the lively man. Eventually she fell in love and they married. After Sasha was born, she quit smoking altogether. Not because she wanted to, but because she couldn''t afford it.


    Lora remembered how raising Sasha was the hardest part of her life. Theor insisted that she shouldn''t get a job to take care of their daughter better. So she started making things and sending it to Theor''s inn, hoping that someone might buy them. Her father was also not around during that time, because of a mission he took on in the North.


    They scraped by day after day, with Theor barely eating so that Lora would get enough milk to feed their daughter. So many dark thoughts passed by through her head in those days. During that time, she realized that she was not such a good person who she made herself out to be. She even once thought that it might''ve been better if she agreed to marry one of the rich guys who came to woo her when she was down. She felt disgusted at herself for having these thoughts when Theor was literally out there starving and working to feed his wife and daughter.


    But thankfully, her father came back from the mission, and their situation gradually turned for the better. They didn''t have to starve thanks to Ssatsko''s hunts, and they were able to start saving for another child.


    Before Evin revealed his origins, the two were also thinking about another child. How cute would it have been? But now, they were afraid. Afraid of another one like Evin popping out of Lora''s belly. Evin was unexpected, but he was still much better than most. Who knows if a murderer or some heartless shell of a humanes out next time?


    As she was thinking about these things, Theor came out of the shower wiping his wet hair with a towel. He took out and wore his underpants from the drawer and strode to the bed and fell back first onto it.


    Lora watched her husband''s actions with interest.


    "How was your day?" Lora asked.


    "Not too bad. Though I got chewed out by elder Nana, because I identally made the wrong food for her. Though the she ended up liking the wrong product, so all''s well," Theor shrugged.


    "The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall," Lora quoted.


    "Who did you hear that from? Sounds quite nice"


    "Evin"


    "Ah"


    ""


    Lora got up from her couch and made a pillow out of Theor''s arm. They gotfortable and stayed like that in silence for a bit. The smell of her husband''s damp hair pervaded Lora''s nose as she peacefullyzoned out on the bed.


    "I went to see Aran, the on the way," Theor began.


    ''The dreaded talk...'' Lora thought.


    "And?"


    "He knew as well. Though he was quite surprised when I told him that Evin came from a different World. Felt like something I shouldn''t have said. Thought I put the boy in danger. I told Aran to not tell anyone else, but I''m still feeling worried, you know?" Theor said.


    Lora noticed that the man did not mind being worried for the boy. The previous few days, he wouldin non-stop about how the boy made him care and then revealed his origins.


    "What did he tell you, then?"


    "Apparently the Children are all like that. One in a million kids who are born with memories of their previous life. Most of them go on to be bigshots in life. Said that maybe 20 percent of allmoners who end up getting a noble title were Children of the Empress," Theor said.


    "Then why don''t more people know about this?" Lora asked, surprised at the revtion.


    "He didn''t know why, said that most prefer to hide the fact. Maybe tell their close ones, but mostly keep it a secret," Theor sighed.


    "I wonder who Evin told, aside from us?"


    "Probably only the Feline. Seems like he made a deal with them. Got him money and a potential tutor. As for your father and Aran, I think they just knew about the topic. Can''t believe he would opt to trust a stranger Feline, instead of talking to us first," Theor grumbled.


    "It was probably hard for him. He spent a year getting raised by us. I''d guess it''s kinda difficult to suddenly say he''s three centuries old," Lora defended the boy like she was used to.


    "Shush, don''t be overprotective of the boy," Theor said and kissed Lora to shut her up.


    Wordlessly, they started enjoying each other''spany and drowned their worries in pleasure.


    Afterwards, the two fell into a silence again. Compared to the uneasy silence of yesterday, today''s seemed more rxed and determined. The two of them both thought about the same thing with deliberation.


    They didn''t want to think about such difficult topics. No one did. But even if they ran away from it, Evin would soone back from the forest and remind them about it. So, it was best to get the thing over with. Lora wondered if this was what Evin meant when he talked about living in the moment.


    "I''ve decided that I don''t really mind it that much," Lora said to Theor.


    "Crafty bastard Spent just enough time with us to make us feelfortable with him," Theor muttered under his breath again.


    Getting inside his house, Evin was met with a hug from his parents.


    While before, such closeness felt undeserved and alien to him. This time, he felt like he earned it in a way. Lora and Theor did not say anything, and the three stood still like that for a few moments.


    Theor then told Evin that he informed Aran about his nature, and if it was bad somehow, but Evin justughed and told them to not worry. Aran would learn of the matter in time, anyway.


    After mulling over the matter for almost ten days, he could finally breathe a sigh of relief. Rith and Ssatsko were grinning on the sidelines, with Sasha and Elina confused with the matter. Evin decided to tell at least Elina as well, so she doesn''t feel ostracized. As for Sasha, everyone agreed that she was too young to learn. Maybe after she gets a bit older.


    Elina took it a bit better than the rest of the family, but she was still very confused. She was probably the furthest from magic,pared to the rest of the family, so all that talk about reincarnation and another world was mostly too foreign to her. But since her knowledge of the world was basically a nk te, she adapted very quickly. She was only 15, seven years older than Sasha. Since the family was in afortable state, they could afford to send her to a school for her to get an education. While before, when she would reach the age of 15, she would most likely end up marrying some guy. But now, she might decide to do something else.


    Evin didn''t linger on the matter. With his most pressing problems solved for now, Evin peacefully spent the following two years until Arza reached the age to receive Aran''s tutoring.

 Chapter 48: Two Years

    Chapter 48: Two Years


    A few important things happened during these two years.


    First, he spent some time to learn more about his newfound ally, the metal skinshifter.


    Evin was expecting the organization to send more people to search for Karan, but his worry was starting to seem unwarranted. The skinshifter, though, was still very on edge. Randomly walking through the street, Evin would hear a voice in his head telling him to steer clear of a specific person, for one reason or another.


    Aside from that, Karan seemed content with the new environment. He ate metal to survive, so someone with a lot of money like Evin was a godsend owner to him. They found that if Karan eats more special or enchanted metals, he would partially absorb its powers. Evin usually fed the skinshifter some extremely durable and adaptable metals so he could have a good foundation. Although he wished to purchase more expensive metals, he was unable to purchase most of them freely. Evin did most of his purchases through Rith, so he didn''t look suspicious in the eyes of others.


    Evin soon learned how tomunicate with Karan in his head, so he didn''t look like a lunatic whenever he walked on the streets. They practiced a lot inside Evin''s test room alongside Ssatsko, who taught his grandson all sorts of wholesome things like, where to stab a person to immobilize them the fastest, or how should one slice someone''s neck so it make them bleed the fastest, or how Evin should always be ruthless with his opponents, since he wasn''t strong enough to be lenient in a fight.


    They would then go to the forest and hunt for mana-beasts. They would search for their trails and would spend days following them. If they finally manage to find it, Evin would get to practice his newfound abilities to his heart''s content. After receiving such rigorous training from the old man, Evin was starting to feel confident in his closebat abilities.


    Most of his confidence came from Karan. Whenever Evin sparred with Ssatsko, they would both deal dozens of minor cuts to each other, since they both had methods to increase the reach of their weapons. Ssatsko utilized his mes, while Evin had a metal skinshifter as his weapon. Karan could also turn into many different other weapons, so Evin had a variety of options avable to him.


    Evin felt that Karan got ustomed to being a weapon very quickly. If he himself was to turn into a weapon, he didn''t know how well he would''ve taken it. He talked to him about it, and the Karan replied that it probably had something to do with the biology of the skinshifters. Not just metal skinshifters. Most other skinshifters were very indifferent to things. Something horrid or life changing happens to them, and they could shrug it off with an "I see".


    He confessed that if Evin died to an enemy, he probably wouldn''t mind going to the person who killed Evin.


    The revtion startled Evin, but Karan assured that he would not betray him when he lived.


    Evin also didn''t ck on his magical studies. His core finally reached 1.9 cm. Now, he only needed a small push to reach the quarter-core stage. Since he was able to absorb more mana, he was able to much more intricate things. The biggest boost was his floating abilities.


    He became able to perform much moreplex movements while floating. His maximum speed increased and he could make sharp turns in the air. He stopped imagining that a wind was blowing him to where he wanted to. He now imagined him having air nozzles around himself and they would blow air in a direction he wanted to. With his tiny size, he was bing a pain to deal with even for Ssatsko.


    But this also posed a problem to Evin, which was that it didn''t have any power to it. Since Evin was basically weightless when he was floating thanks to the Heavy World, his blows didn''t have any impact, other than the force from the World of Storms. So when he was floating, he would mostly opt to use ranged attacks.


    He tried copying Ssatsko''s various World of Fire tricks, but he just couldn''t get the things working. He first tried copying his ming arcs. The old man''s mes were solid somehow, while Evin''s mes seemed hollow. He then decided to try the old man''s 1000-degree blistering-hot dagger technique, but he simplycked the mana to do such a thing. Karan also did not like getting heated up like that. Ssatsko exined that his dagger was enchanted in a way that makes it easier to absorb heat. If Evin wanted to copy that, he would need to feed a few special metals to Karan over a long time.


    His Air Bullets on the other hand were bing more and more powerful. It was bing simr to apressed air gun. Except instead of a stream of air, Evin was shooting pockets of air. In real life, such things would definitely cause damage to a person, but it wouldn''t be that bad. Evin mostly solved this problem with his will. It''s a world of magic. Why should he constrict himself by always thinking scientifically? Just imagine the air bullets being like real bullets and it would work most of the time, although it took a bit of an effort.


    Evin''s prowess on the World of Thoughts became a bit more diverse. He could add a lot of new elements to his illusions, making them feel more realistic. He managed to make his illusions have sounds and heat and whatnot. He also tried to add more overly theatrical effects to his spells, to just add a bunch of noise and useless information in the enemy''s eyes.


    Since Sasha also had a horn that allowed her to channel the World of Thoughts, they would spend their time creating shy spells. Speaking of her, she probably got the most versatile World with her horn. Even though she can''t create anything that''s real, like high-level mages and dragons, but if she ever gets a chance to increase the size of her horn with a World Core or something, the things she could do would increase tremendously.


    As for Rith, she had her kittens after two months. She only had three of them, but one of them turned out to be a Cosmic. Abvelgail took that one away, and the rest stayed in Evin''s house. The ck cat that impregnated Rith eventually became a house cat under the guidance of Rith and was unceremoniously named ckspot by Sasha. The two kittens were female and male, so they were named Riz and Raz, respectively.


    The sight of a family of cats looked new to Evin, since no male cat would stay with a female for long on Earth. ckspot also seemed very surprised by the development as well. Fatherhood came at the catpletely unexpectedly. Evin started to act very kindly towards the cat. ckspot''s loving gaze towards Rith couldn''t help but make Evin and the rest feel sunshine in their stomachs.


    Rith herself seemed to be bing more and more like a normal house cat. She wouldze around all day, looking after her two kittens and fooling around with Evin. Evin asked how long his monitoring would continue and the answer he got was that Rith did not know either.


    As for his financial situation, he saved them all in a savings ount. It was a 10-year program and Evin would cash out big time when he turned 12, right before he enters the Academy. His ount now had about 15000 gold, increasing slowly but surely thanks to the percentages. Obviously he didn''t save everything for himself, and had about 1000 gold coins in a normal transaction ount.


    As for the projects that he vetoed, there were no news as of yet.


    Arza also grew bigger and bigger until he was deemed worthy to receive magical instruction by Aran. the time came for Evin to receive magical instructions. Evin was now four years old, and he had two years to dedicate himself to his study of magic, before he left with Ssatsko to the North for the Horn Ceremony.

 Chapter 49: Change of plans

    Chapter 49: Change of ns


    In Evin''s test room, alongside the usual Rith and Karan, stood two men, one old and one younger. Aran and Ssatsko came to talk with Evin about his future magic studies.


    "As you probably realize, there are some limitations forced upon us when we first start learning magic from others, namely mage organizations and countries and we call them Oaths. You can think of it as a World Contract, but it''s a bit less severe, with all the new conditions the Authorities are adding to their Contracts," Aran began.


    "There are also slight differences to each of the countries'' Oaths as well. For example, the South would demand that their mages to never betray the Ind Alliance. It seems a bit too harsh for their mages, but they make it up for their enclosed and uncheatable system where individuals are evaluated based on their own merits. If you prove yourself to be talented enough, you will not find yourself inck of resources and knowledge. Strength is truth there, so to speak," Ssatsko added.


    "For the East, their Oath requires the mages to not question the higher-up''s orders and perform it. You can actually refuse the order for whatever reason, but if you fail to perform the given order, your contributions will be nullified and you would have to perform a few other tasks to restore your contributions. The Kingdom is a bit morex, we only require you to not disclose its methods and secrets, and if you ever discover a new form of magic usage, you must submit it to the kingdom''s archive as well. That''s the general condition, but there are a few ways to get over it as well. Mostly, it will be rted to contributions, like me," Aran said.


    So if I have something that I absolutely must hide, I can do it if I have enough contributions.


    "Did you opt for that decision with that secret spell of yours?"


    Evin was almost killed at the designs of a mage who was afraid that Evin would learn of Aran''s spell.


    "Yes, which is why I have to either pay the kingdom ten thousand gold, or I have to participate in three battles for the kingdom,"


    "For the North, it is simr to the Kingdom, we require you to keep the secrets of the Ivari horn with your life and if the North ever falls into trouble, you must drop everything else you are involved in and go to assist the Tribes. And also, the North can call upon you three times in your life. If you ever manage to fight for the North three times, then you will be free from the second condition," Ssatsko exined.


    "And every Oath a mage takes will not allow you to attack or kill amon person without them provoking you. That was why Kens couldn''t simply kill you himself, he had to rout up a bunch of 2nd grade citizens to do it," Aran added.


    ''It''s kinda funny how they take turn when speaking like they''re doing some sort of cob presentation. It''s kinda cute,'' Evin thought briefly.


    "Can I take two Oaths?"


    "Yes, though it is a bit rare, you may take the Oath for the Kingdom and another country, since the kingdom does not require you to fight for them. You can add the East to the mix, but that''s even more rare," Aran said.


    Evin found it usible. The East required you to follow orders, and the South outright required you to be a loyal dog. The North is a little special, since only when they call upon you three times, but it still might be in conflict with the other countries. What Evin was interested in, though, were other types of oaths.


    "What about Tower City?"


    "The Capital is a bit special. There''s no single entity that governs there. They are ruled by the Ten Factions, that divide the City into ten parts. You can join any of them and they''ll have their own sets of oaths and conditions," Aran said.


    "So it''s possible for organizations to have their own oaths as well?"


    [The bastards from the organization that caught me made me take such an Oath. I feel as if it''s stronger than the ones that the countries use, since it even followed my soul to my afterlife,] Karan said inside Evin''s head.


    "Yes. But the oath you take for a country will take precedence over them. So if you receive orders from a country and an organization and they collide with each other for whatever reason, you must perform the Country''s orders first and then do the one for the organization afterwards, if it is possible"


    Evin found the matter slightly annoying and confusing, but since Oaths and Contracts that cannot be broken easily existed in this World, naturally it would paint a different scenepared to how it was on Earth.


    "Anyhow, Aran and I wanted to tell you that you should take the Oaths for the Kingdom and the Tribes. You need to take one for the kingdom since that''s the only way you can get into the Academy, while the Tribes require it for your Horn Ceremony. Not only that, if you take the Oath for the Tribe, we can depart toward the North now and let you receive the training that young Northerners receive," Ssatsko said.


    "What about Aran?"


    Evin waited so long to receive Aran''s tutge, but for some reason the man ditched his promise and is now sending him to another country.


    "I wanted to take you under my wing, but I have some work I owe to the kingdom. I''m sorry for the sudden change of ns. But there will be people more than qualified to teach you the basics, and after you reach the North, you''ll be able to learn the more advanced knowledge about that you crave so much," Aran exined.


    "What are you going to do with Arza?"


    "He''ll be going with you. There should be some Northern blood in him somewhere, so don''t worry about him getting rejected at the Horn Ceremony,"


    ''Wait, Arza''sing with us? Piece of shit. Not only you ditch your promise, you even ditch your son on me?''


    "Take care of your own son, take him to Arcvallen. Show him some of that big city atmosphere," Evin said in his most convincing tone.


    "And then leave him there after I go to fight the South?"


    "I really don''t know why you and Rith find the kid so insufferable," Ssatsko said.


    "You wouldn''t get it," Evin and Rith said at the same time.


    "In any case, I''ll have to leave him in your care," Aran said.


    Evin found the matter to be a bit bullshit, but found nothing wrong with the arrangements that were made for him, so he could only agree to take both Oaths.


    "To take the Oath, you must first meet the Earl in charge of the surrounding territory. Unfortunately,mon mages like me don''t have the qualifications to carry Oath Stamps, so you''ll have to meet the ruler of this town to take the Oath. Before you leave, I''ll give you all the necessary books you need to study on the way and you can ask Ssatsko to exin the parts that you don''t understand"


    "What happens if someone decides to not take any Oaths?" Evin asked curiously.


    "Then one must tackle the mammoth of a subject called magic alone. Perhaps you will find sess, but I highly doubt you would want to go through such a thing," Aran said with a shrug.


    Evin did not need more convincing and went on with the agreed n.


    The decision made, Evin and his family began his preparation for the journey. Evin had finally bought his own spatial storage ne. He sold the one he found from the Easterners anonymously and bought a better one for himself.


    He put all of his necessary belongings in it and was ready for the journey ahead. At the agreed date, Evin''s group met with Aran and Arza and went to meet the Earl. Evin wished to invite his family to the mansion, but Aran told him that normalmoners weren''t allowed inside the mansion, because of whatever reasons.

 Chapter 50: The Earls mansion

    Chapter 50: The Earl''s mansion


    At the gateway of the biggest mansion in town, Evin and the rest awaited their entry to the mansion. The process seemed awfully slow, considering the fact that they had a meeting agreement beforehand. Aran was keeping Arza in check, while Evin was just chatting with Rith to pass time.


    Evin felt that maybe he was being ostracized for his Northern origins, but after looking around the ce, he noticed that most of the guards and servants worked in a cking manner. Evin thought that perhaps the problem was with the staff here. The mansion itself seemed poorly maintained, with specks of dust and even some garbage left on the floors. After another half and hour of waiting, the three humans and one Feline were invited into the dining space of the Earl.


    Entering the room, Evin found that it was actually a wide hall adorned with gorgeous decorations. The atmosphere here was clearly contrasting to the rest of the mansion. First, the ce was spotlessly clean and the previously cking servants now looked vignt and full of life. Ready to serve their master.


    Evin looked behind the table that was filled with delicacies and found a rotund man sitting on a wide, sturdy chair. The man had a receding hairline, but his face looked like he was in his forties. Under his eyes were darkened eye bags, and the man generally looked like hecked sleep and nourishment.


    ''Stress from the job, probably,'' Evin guessed.


    Sitting around the table were three girls. One was of simr age to Evin, but seemed a bit older, maybe 6 years old; and two others who were a bit older. One appeared to be close to 11, while the other looked much older.


    "Mage Aran of Arcvallen greets Earl Borna of the kingdom," Aran dered as he entered the room.


    "Just call me Velpin, no need for one of your stature to humble yourself over the mayor of a small town like ours. I also greet miss Solraheeth Ritven in your party," the man replied and nodded towards Rith.


    Rith replied perfunctorily, clearly not interested in entertaining the man.


    Evin could detect a hint of contempt in the man''s voice when he talked to Aran. Since Evin was in a foreign environment, his senses were abnormally focused, not letting even the smallest hints hide from him.


    "How could I dare to do that? Here''s my son and a son of my friend. They hope to receive the Oath stamp from you, so they may start their career as a mage of the Kingdom," Aran replied neutrally.


    "Your subject Eviendra greets Lord"


    "Your subject Arza greets Lord," the two kids recited as they were told.


    It surprised Evin that Arza did as told for once, but thought that maybe Aran promised him something if the boy behaved during the meeting with the Earl.


    "Of course, but first, let us dine. I will deal with your proposed problems with afterwards. I heard Eviendra, over there, is one of the Children of the Empress?" Earl Borna asked inquisitively.


    "Yes, my lord," Evin answered curtly. He ignored the painful stare the Earl was shooting at him.


    "How interesting, I heard that they''re mature from birth and often go on to achieve great things. I heard that you made a deal with the Cosmics already, and apparently you make enough money to keep your family fed andfortable. Oh, how I envy your parents," the Earl eximed.


    It was like the words greed and expectation were smeared over the man''s receding hairline.


    Evin could see where this conversation was going, so he was preparing his words on how to refuse him politely. But just to be sure, he looked at Aran to see if he has to say something. Aran nced back, and the nce seemed to imply one thing. Indifference.


    Evin understood the gesture as, "do as you wish".


    "How can my measly iepare to Lord''s riches? I''m embarrassed by how others look at my family. Look at your mansion and look at our little house. It''s likeparing a lion and a cat, then saying the cat is more majestic. ttery should have limits," Evin said.


    "Now, don''t say that. Oh, dear me, almost forgot my daughters. The eldest is named Arelyn, the middle one''s name is Olevyn and the young princess'' name is Beyn. Go on, introduce yourselves," the Earl said hurriedly.


    The girls stood up and introduced themselves briefly and expressed their gratitude to be acquainted with their guests.


    "I''ve always wanted a boy from my wife, but s, the Empress did not approve of this small wish of mine. I''m preparing Arelyn to be the future Countess, but there''s been one matter that made me hesitate a bit. My youngest, Beyn, turned out to be a mage, so I thought I should wait until she is properly educated," the Earl continued after his daughters.


    [What the fuck is he on about? ] chimed in Karan from inside Evin''s head. The skinshifter was on Evin''s fingers, filled to the brim with deadly poison. He exined that being more lethal felt morefortable than just being an empty vessel.


    [Perhaps he wants to bind his youngest to me. Judging from the state of the town and his mansion, he doesn''t really have a talent in ruling a ce. Perhaps he greeds for my connection with the Cosmics, ] Evin replied in his head.


    "I''m sure they''ll both turn out to be wonderful women in the future. There''s a saying I heard somewhere. Don''t put all your eggs in one basket. It means that one should not focus on one thing so much, instead, try one''s best to look for all the opportunities one has. Lord is wise to apply this in your life," Evin said offhandedly.


    After saying it, he realized his mistake.


    ''Ah, shit, I gave him an excuse,'' he thought in his head.


    "Precisely! What a wonderful saying. I was thinking that maybe if I have my youngest betrothed to a talented young mage, I''ll be able to solve all of my problems at once. I''ll have the boy I wanted so much, and I won''t have to worry about choosing my heir," the Earl eximed happily.


    ''Ah, who cares, the suggestion was going to appear sooner orter,'' Evin shrugged in his head.


    He took a nce at the youngest and found her frowning slightly. She most likely didn''t expect her father to sell her so suddenly and without notice. Though Evinmended the girl for not going on an outrage.


    "How can I agree to something like that? Although Beyn would surely grow into a beautiful woman in the future, you must remember that I''m only four years old and she''s perhaps six. She will surely find someone else that she fancies soon enough. I''m afraid I have to refuse your offer, Lord Earl," Evin refused politely.


    He took another look at the girl and found her relieved, but slightly offended face. Beyn seemed d she wasn''t sold, but she still took a hit to her pride, because the buyer did not fancy her.


    Evin chuckled inwardly and let the matter go. Just one hopeful noble trying to achieve some benefits. No harm was done in the process.


    "Of course, although if she ever asks to get closer to you, I hope you won''t be so heartless to reject her," the Earl said with a slightly twitching smile.


    [What a shameless bastard. pped in the face, but acts like no such thing happened, ] Karan''s thoughts echoed in Evin''s mind.


    "Of course"


    Evin could only give an empty promise.

 Chapter 51: Sudden spar

    Chapter 51: Sudden spar


    The lunch went on like nothing ever happened, with Aran and the Earl asionally talking about some matters of the kingdom and the rest enjoying the delicious food. Although the food was good, Evin''s attention was on something else.


    Evin observed the mansion''s residents with interest. It reminded him of the old theatric melodramas that were so popr in the 19th century. The stereotypes were all there. The ipetent master of the house, the pompous elder sisters, the gossiping servants, and finally, the ostracized youngest daughter. It justcked the prince in shining armor. Maybe that was supposed to be Evin himself, and perhaps he betrayed the story a bit.


    But where was the final boss, the evil stepmother? Should Evin ask about it? Or should he just ignore herck of presence? Does the haggard state of the Earl mean that the Countess of the estate has recently passed away? Or did she pass away early and Be came from a different mother?


    Evin decided that if there really was an evil stepmother, then it would actually be a bit too much like a melodrama. Let''s just enjoy the simrities for now.


    If it followed the ssical examples, the ostracised younger daughter would be born from a concubine or something, which would generally make her standing practically negligible in the house. But instead, just like how the lead heroine would be extremely beautiful in Earth''s dramas, here, in Alvox, she has the ability to cast magic. The one who was supposed to be useless, suddenly turns out to be extremely important. The little girl gets constantly reminded about her future responsibilities, which forces her to grow up faster than her peers.


    Her elder sisters would constantly bully her due to her lower bearing and the constant attention their father gives her, adding on to the rapid growth of the child.


    Just look at her, only six years old and already looking more mature than her two elder sisters. She doesn''t bother looking around, her small plump hands clumsily focused on the food. She was eating lunch like her life depended on it. Perhaps she was once gotten told off by her sisters because of her clumsiness? Who knows?


    While Beyn was silently taking part in the dinner, her sisters chatter about this and that, their proud demeanor oozing from their gestures. They don''t have to focus on their food, they can make mistakes and no one will give two shits. They can enjoy the life as rich daughters of an Earl''s house.


    In Earthen dramas, the main heroine would spend her times like this for the next ten years, until her beauty surpasses the heavens. She would then meet her prince in shining armor toe and save her from this dreaded environment.


    ''I wonder what will happen to Beyn''s future, since she possesses magic, instead of beauty?''


    ncing at the girl, she did seem rather cute. Perhaps she would be a powerful mage who would sway the hearts of every male and female of the World after her growth? Evin decided that only time will tell.


    As Evin was fantasizing about matters in his head, Arza poked at his side and asked a question.


    "Why did you talk so funny with the old man?"


    Evin, suddenly yanked away from the intense melodrama happening in his head, needed a few seconds to process the question.


    "Because some grown-ups have to talk like that. And I was trying to copy them," Evin replied.


    "Really? Then why does uncle Theor talk like he does?" Arza asked, unconvinced.


    "Because as I said, only some grown-ups talk like I did. Maybe in the future, you will have to talk like that as well?"


    "I don''t wanna do that. That''s too much work. It''s stupid," the child retorted.


    "I agree it''s stupid, but when you grow up, you''ll start to learn that sometimes, you have to say things that you don''t want"


    "Like lies?" A pondering expression on his small face.


    "Yeah, like lies"


    "Dad said that people who lie should be punched in the face. Did you lie when talking to that man?"


    ''What are you teaching your kid?'' Evin''s eyebrows twitched.


    "I didn''t lie to the man, you don''t have to punch me in the face. I said that the girl will grow up beautiful and she would surely not disappoint us," at this point, Evin was not really conscious of what he was talking about. He just knew that he uttered something to exin the situation to the boy. His mind was still focused on the melodrama that was happening.


    Arza looked at the girl intently, before saying:


    "If she doesn''t grow beautiful, then I''m gonna punch you, ok?"


    ''Do you just want to punch someone, you brute?''


    "Okay, sure But don''t think that you''ll be able to hit me so easily"


    "But if you think that the girl grows up to be so beautiful, why don''t you marry her?"


    "Why do I have to marry her even if she''s beautiful?"


    "It''s one thing off the list that dad gave me. He told me if a girl has two of these three properties, then I can marry her. He said beautiful, smart or have a lot of money,"


    ''Seriously, what the hell are you teaching your child?''


    "Why won''t you marry Beyn, then, she''s also smart and she should have a lot of money as the heir of the Count," Evin said.


    "She doesn''t look that smart, only staring at her food like the food told her she was ugly or something. How can she be smart if she gets offended by food?" Arza eximed, a tad too loud forfort.


    Hearing the words of the boy, the two sisters sent a cheeky grin towards the youngest.


    "Hear that, Be? The kid thinks you''re not so keen. What do you have to say against that?" Olevyn, the middle sister, pointed out.


    ''Oh shit, the melodrama is unfolding,'' Evin grinned.


    Beyn did not seem fazed or shocked, since spiteful sentences were all she heard from the mouths of her sisters.


    "Our guest can think what he wants, but I hope he would keep his thoughts in his head," she replied impersonally.


    "Why should I hide my thoughts! A real man should say his mind witho-" Arza eximed.


    Aran hurriedly shut his son''s mouth before he could say anything else.


    "Sorry for the little one, he''s a bit too straightforward for his own good," Aran exined.


    "No worries. No worries It''s the squabbles of children. Come to think of it, why can''t your son settle his dispute with Be with a little spar? She trains all the time, andins that there aren''t any good sparring partners around. Since your son is also a mage, he should know some things about fighting, right?" the Earl remarked, suddenly.


    "I don''t think that''s a ve-" Aran began, but his voice was drowned out by his son''s deration.


    "I agree!" Arza managed to announce from behind his father''s hands that were trying to keep him silent.


    "I agree as well!" Beyn announced.


    The lunch was suddenly disrupted with the announcement of the two children.

 Chapter 52: Bella vs Arza

    Chapter 52: Be vs Arza


    The group of people walked towards the training grounds, which was arge empty area decorated with a few weapon stands and some knights and squires doing rounds.


    "Clear the area! A duel between the young mages will take ce here!" A servant announced.


    The soldiers grumbled a bit, but after learning that their youngdy was going to fight, the ones who were training started to look at Arza with some pity in their eyes. Some others went to cheer up the youngdy of the house. Clearly, the little girl was notorious in her turf.


    Be went to change her clothes, and Arza was being scolded by Aran. The Earl''s two elder daughters had an intrigued look, wanting to see how their youngest sister shames herself in front of others.


    ''Guess they don''t reallye to watch her spar The girl''s pretty respected by the guards, as ipetent they may seem,'' Evin thought absentmindedly.


    "At least we get some entertainment while we visit this dull ce," Rith chimed in.


    "Who do you think will win?" Evin asked.


    "Probably Arza, you know how he fights. I''m pretty sure he''d beat you if he starts to use his head a little," Rith said.


    "Really? I think the girl will win. Wanna bet on it?" Evin taunted.


    "Oh, what will we bet?" Rith seemed amused.


    "How about a thousand?"


    "Daring, are we? Isn''t that basically everything on your hand? I hope you don''t cry when you lose them all," Rith smiled.


    "We''ll see who''s going to cry," Evin smirked.


    The earl and his daughters who listened to the conversation were interested in how easily the two talked about money. 1000 silver was not a small amount of money. And not only that, it was for a fight between two kids. On such a small fight, who would dare bet such arge amount of money!


    Finally, Beyn came out with a light leather armor that fit her like a glove. It was padded in the areas of her vitals, but it looked like it was made to not restrict of the owner''s movements. She held a wooden sword that was clearly enhanced to absorb World energies better, with a glove on her right hand which was covered in small colorful gems. She also wore a scowl on her face, like something really bad happened to her. As far as Evin could tell, it was not the boy she was fighting that made her scowl like that. Evin was curious of the reason, but he was more interested in the glove.


    "What''s that thing she''s wearing?" Evin asked.


    "It''s called a Channeling Artifact. You see the gems on it? They''re all tiny fragments of World cores mixed with a precious metal known as sorbothium, and they can absorb World energies before a fight. Although it''s not useful in sudden situations, it''s still a valuable tool that most mages use," Rith exined with some longing on her face.


    ''So it''s something like World energy batteries. That''s so useful,'' Evin thought.


    Aran, on the other hand, was feeding something to Arza. The kid looked like he was about to puke out the thing afterwards, but Aran forced it down the kid''s throat. Arza started tearing and gagging.


    "What did he make him eat?" Evin asked the Feline.


    "You''ll know soon enough"


    The two''s fight was finally about to start.


    A servant threw a green cloth to the air and backed off immediately. The cloth fluttered in the air for a few seconds and right as it fell, Arza madly dashed towards Beyn, tightly gripping his enhanced wooden sword.


    Be smirked and pulled out an Earthen wall from the ground to interrupt the dash. The piece of ground that she pulled up was much sturdier than Evin''s and it also looked much more threatening. She then enveloped her wooden sword in mes and expectantly looked at the wall''s edges. She probably nned to surprise Arza, after the boy jumped or dashed around the Earthen wall.


    Evin was surprised by two things. First, Evin could feel that her fire had the same qualities as Ssatsko''s solid fire. But more surprisingly, she didn''t bring out a mana lodestone to conjure it. Evin realized that the glove she was wearing was doing its job. Evin desperately wanted something like that for himself.


    "She''s not ying around," Evin thought out loud.


    "Yeah, but that wall will not stop Arza," Rith chimed in.


    Instead of going around the obstacle like a normal person would, Arza directly jumped at it. Evin could see the child''s muscle bulge slightly with energy and the next moment, Arza''s wooden sword burst out at the wall with incredible energy. Arza''s sword then shined out bright white rays, briefly blinding Be.


    Evin was surprised that he could not see Arza take on any hue of color. He guessed that whatever the thing that Aran fed the boy had the ability to hide his World energies.


    As Evin was analyzing the contestant''s methods, the fight started to favor Arza.


    Be did not expect someone to actually break her wall like that, so her defense was slightly more sloppy than what it could be. On top of the surprise, the light show happening on Arza''s sword did its job properly, even further putting the girl in a passive spot.


    They exchanged a few blows, with Be receiving much more damage than Arza. The boy did not know the meaning of the word holding back, so his attacks were brutal and overwhelming. Suddenly met with intense pain all around her body, Be was find her slipping into a bad spot.


    Evin could see that she was able to hold on thanks to her glove, which allowed her to channel World without using a lodestone. She was also properly trained by a soldier, so that also helped her cope with the various attacks that Arza was throwing at her.


    Knowing that she can''t let the situation go on like this, Be gritted her teeth and threw a rtively big ming ball between herself and her opponent. The ball suddenly exploded, taking Arza by surprise.

 Chapter 53: The conclusion

    Chapter 53: The conclusion


    The smoke from the explosion cleared and the audience could briefly see a drenched Be, covered in mud. She immediately jumped at the boy and violently assaulted him.


    ''She most likely created a mud wall to protect herself from the heat and the impact. To make sure her move is not wasted, she promptly resumes the fight. But this time, she has the advantage and she won''t underestimate Arza''s brutality'' Evin noted.


    Arza was suddenly put in a terrible state, with some part of his skin burnt and bruised. With the addition of the sudden assault, it was now his time to get battered.


    He looked like he couldn''t take it anymore, so he was about to use the World of Fire and Luminous World to create distance and recuperate himself.


    Noticing that, Evin shouted:


    "Trying to run away?! Didn''t you always talk about how you would always face your problems head on and punch them in their faces! Such a pathetic liar!"


    "Hey! That''s cheating!" Rith pestered him from the side.


    "We never agreed on a rule that said external help was prohibited," Evin grinned back.


    Hearing the words, Arza had a sudden change of ns. He still channeled Light and Fire and his sword started to imitate a miniature sun, blistering hot and blindingly bright. He threw a strong sweep with his sword, using the moment of surprise that bought him a second. Be jumped back to dodge the sudden sweep that suddenly appeared in front of her.


    While she jumped back, she threw a mass of gas made of the World of Emotion''s energy towards Arza. She didn''t imagine anything tooplicated. The gas''s only purpose was to increase whatever emotion one was feeling, if one inhaled it. On Arza, it increased his feeling of shame and stubbornness.


    Arza''s original n was to use this brief moment to heal himself, but due to Evin''s words and the effect of the gas, he couldn''t make himself do that. He jumped forward with his battered body and continued the brawl.


    At first he had the advantage because of his mes and his blinding light, but Be soon started utilizing a mud armor to deal with the heat and she applied the Dark World on her eyes to soften the impact that the light made. She was extremely steady in her fight, making almost no mistakes that Arza could exploit. Rith and Evin could see some, but that was because they had the leisure to observe, instead of being the one in the ring, fighting for victory.


    It was like watching sports. As a spectator, you could see a hundred things that the athlete could''ve done better. But sadly, the confusion and chaos in the field would never allow the one actually ying to see the things that a spectator was seeing. Not to mention the bird eye view most spectators get.


    His trump card countered, Arza soon got worn down by his opponent and got knocked out. Be waited for him to surrender, but the boy did not know such concepts, so she had to do it the hard way. Finally, after a few minutes, Arza fell to the ground after a heavy blow to his chin, his body falling down like a puppet that had its strings cut suddenly. The battle seemed to have ended.


    Be saw him fall, but did not approach the unconscious body. Instead opting to use the World of Life to slowly heal her beaten body. Her healing speed was slower than Evin and Arza, since she didn''t receive the World Sprites'' enlightenment and was not a natural genius like Arza. Evin approved of the girl''s decision, but he would still have her attack the downed enemy just in case. Sadly, he could not shout this advice out, as Rith was dutifully holding his mouth in check with some unknown magic.


    Just as the earl was about to announce the victory of his daughter, Arza rushed at Be with renewed vigor. Be was notpletely taken by surprise, but she still found the boy even stronger than before. Although the boy''s sword was not imbued with Fire and Light likest time, the force that wielded it became much more violent, albeit a bit less precise. But against an amateur opponent like the girl, it wasn''t much of a disadvantage.


    Evin and the Feline both knew how annoying Arza was to deal with. His most powerful World was the World of Life and after that was the Luminous World. On top of having ridiculous healing powers, he could enhance his muscles and skin briefly just like Ssatsko. The old man was very surprised to see a child copying his techniques. He didn''t even teach anything to him, and the boy managed to achieve it thanks to his natural talents.


    The tide of the battle shifted once more. With Arza using his trump card, it was Be''s time to receive punishment again. The back and forth of the spar amused Evin and shocked the spectators. While the soldiers were excitedly watching the fight between the young mages, Be''s sisters were gleefully looking at the sight of her youngest getting pummeled. They never watched her fight before, and was honestly shocked at how strong she was, but she was still weaker than some no namemoner boy.


    Beyn was desperate to try anything to change the situation of the spar. She had to do something to break Arza''s rhythm. She thought about her biggest advantage and realized that it was the Channeling artifact that let her cast spells without wasting time to absorb energy through the Worlds from lodestones. Arza obviously absorbed as much World of Life energy that his core could handle, but it will still run out and he will have to recharge at some point. She just had to make sure to use that moment to her full advantage.


    With a new n, she began looking for clues that the boy was about to create distance between them and recharge. It turned out to be harder than she expected, since Arza fought like he was filled with energy even when he was about to run out.


    Most people would naturally start being frugal with their energy usage when they realize they''re about to run out, but not Arza. But this did make it a bit easier for Beyn, since when the moment actually came, it was obvious for everyone to see.


    Arza, who never once attempted to kick at Be, suddenly added a shoving kick in after hisbo. The girl knew that her chance was upon her, so she decisively dropped her sword and grabbed the boy''s leg. It was a gamble for sure, but it won her the fight big time.


    Arza, who was fighting like a never tiring machine, suddenly became extremely weak. His body was basically going on a type of adrenaline known as the energy of the World of Life, and when his supply got cut, the exhaustion came in giant waves. He tried swinging his sword, but could only fumble clumsily.


    Be performed one of her well practiced close quarter fistbo that mainly aimed to stun the opponent into a daze and Arza fell to the ground unconscious once again.


    But this time, she didn''t let the boy restore himself. She immediately conjured an ice prison using practically all her unused World of Water energy in her glove. The limp body of the boy was encased in a beautiful shackle of ice, that covered every part of his body except the face. Arza couldn''t move his hands to his lodestones, so he couldn''t melt the prison with Fire. He could only helplessly struggle inside the ice, trying to break free. He red at Beyn and found the girl smugly staring back while healing her wounds.


    "I lost" the words came out of his mouth.


    It was actually the first time Evin and Rith heard Arza admit his defeat. Evin thought that such a thing was impossible, so he would always knock him out for good. The new discovery made them see hope that they could somehow humble Arza using imprisonment tactics.


    The audience was shocked to see such an intense fight during a random lunch break. Themon soldiers could only sigh at the superiority of mages, while some of the mages were feeling pressured and jealous of the young mages'' talents.

 Chapter 54: Weeding out problems

    Chapter 54: Weeding out problems


    Aran came and melted the ice for his son.


    "You''re such a talented youngdy. I always wanted to humble my son a bit, but in a single day, somehow you did a better job than what I achieved in four years," Aran praised Beyn with a smile.


    Beyn was obviously happy with the praise and a slight blush appeared on her cheeks.


    Evin shook his head at the interaction. Aran was a weird person. Most of the time, he would look carefree andzy, but something just told you that he was a steady and dependable person. It had a certain charm to it.


    "I may have to report Aran to the military," Evin muttered.


    "You''re just jealous of his charm," Rith said.


    "Why would I be jealous of a predator?" Evin retorted, and continued with a smirk, "Anyway, it''s my win, so gimme my money"


    "Fine, fine. I''ll put it in your ount," Rith grumbled.


    "Take out a hundred for me now"


    "Why?"


    "I''ve gotta award my champion," Evin replied.


    "The girl obviously likes a pleasant face more than coins. You can''t win her over with money," Rith said and pointed at Aran.


    Evin didn''t bother replying to the taunt, and just stood there with his hands open.


    Rith cursed something under her breath and took out a fancy purse, with bulging coins inside it.


    The earl and his two daughters greedily eyed the purse from the sidelines. They thought there were hundred silvers in the bag. Since no one would dare think that someone would bet a thousand gold coins on a casual spar.


    Evin applied made it weightless so he could carry it better and approached Beyn. The girl eyed him with some hostility and dissatisfaction.


    "I didn''t need your assistance in the fight," she said to Evin.


    "Oh, don''t be such a kid. I was about to lose a lot of money if you lost. And you didn''t hesitate to act on my words too, with that gas you threw at Arza. But since you helped me gain a lot more with your victory, I want to gift you with some of my profits," Evin said and handed Beyn the purse.


    "I don''t need your money," the girl refused.


    "It''s customary that the fighter takes a share of the bet afterwards. Take a peek inside, maybe you''ll change your mind?" Evin urged and shook the bag. The clinking of coins sounded in the area and everyone''s desire for greed started to emerge. Evin could also see a hint of curiosity in the girl''s eyes. Noticing what she wanted, he opened the purse''s mouth and tilted it towards Beyn.


    Silence filled the area, anticipation and curiosity filling the air.


    Beyn involuntarily let out a gasp of shock. The others could notice that the sight of the coins gave her face a golden tint.


    She did not hesitate to grab the bag.


    Pride was nice to cling onto, but it was garbagepared to the amount of money she saw. She clutched at the money like someone might take it from her, warily eyeing the others.


    ''Oh, I may have made her life unnecessarily more difficult,'' Evin thought. Her family would surely nag her about it for years toe.


    ''Ah, who would she be if she doesn''t grow through fire and steel to develop properly as a person,'' Evin shrugged with indifference.


    Evin did not feel that this action of his would have too big of a consequence.


    "I advise you to put you money in a savings ount. It''s even better since you''re young. If you do that, no one will be able to take your money." Evin suggested at least.


    "What''s that?"


    "Do you have a pendant or something that a Cosmic Feline left you?" Evin asked.


    "Eh, don''t bother, I''ll take care of it for her," Rith interjected.


    Rith talked to Be about the functions of a bank and savings ounts for a bit and they decided on a ten-year program with a 12 percent interest. The Cosmics were trying out various different methods to increase capital and long-term savings ounts were one of them. If the girl manages to contribute a golden coin to her savings yearly, she should be left with about 500 gold at the age of 14.


    As Rith was exining the details of a bank ount to Beyn, Evin watched the greedy stares of the surrounding people. Evin even noticed one with seemingly threatening intentions. It was one of the more well-dressed servants, the one who was serving the group during lunch. The way he looked at Evin''s riches was a little too suspicious for Evin to ignore. He was 90 percent sure he''d be the reason for a bunch of armed thugs approaching him after he left the town. Even worse, they might target his family.


    Evin bought a lot of security measures for his family from Aran, but that was only in the safety of their houses. The guards would keep an eye out for the family of a future mage, but one could never be too careful.


    It felt nice to brag, but one should have the ability to protect what''s important to them.


    Evin approached the man and asked for a cup of water. While taking it, he pricked the man''s hand with the needle on his ring. Evin noticed that it was a calloused hand with many small cuts and bruises on it. The servant worked well, and his hands were the best proof. Evin felt bad for the man''s sudden decision, influenced by greed. Perhaps he was in a dire need of money and thought that a four-year-old child would be an easy target. Never did he realize that Evin would probably agree to lend him some money if he just asked and exined his situation. Evin would probably forget about it soon after anyway. He was never one to care too much about umting money. And it also had a much better chance of working,pared to whatever nefarious scheme the man was cooking in his head.


    The man was startled with the sudden prick, but did not think much of it. Little did the man know that he would find himself dead when the next morning came.


    [You''re a nasty little kid,] Karan said inside Evin''s mind.


    [I don''t want trouble. It''s either this, or he brings a bunch of hired arms to fight us when we leave the city. It would be unfair for those hired arms to die for this guy''s mistakes, no?] Evin replied.


    Weeding out problems beforehand was best, in Evin''s opinion.


    Evin then felt a bit conflicted. He tried his best to avoid problems that affected him personally, such as the matters of his family, but when killing a stranger that might pose a problem for him in the future, he was decisive like no one else.


    He thought that perhaps he became like this because of how many deaths he witnessed in his previous life. And it all made him extremely numb to the concept of death in the first ce. Evin wondered what he would be like if one of his family members passed away. He would cry and mourn, surely, but would it really affect him greatly?


    Evin started fearing that he wouldn''t really feel anything at all. His mood gradually tumbled, and he fell into a depressive spiral suddenly.


    As Evin was randomly going through an existential crisis, Rith came upon him with Beyn.


    "Hey, Evin, Be wants to try sparring with you? Are you okay? What happened?" Rith asked.


    Evin wordlessly hugged the Feline for emotionalfort. He buried his head inside Rith''s soft fur and just stood there for a bit.


    "Why do you wanna spar with me?" Evin replied after a few seconds.


    Be, who was watching from the sidelines, was baffled with Evin''s random actions.


    She figured that perhaps it was not that surprising, considering the fact that the little fellow was a four-year-old.


    "Arza said that he never won against you before, and I was just curious,"


    "He remembers losing to me? I thought he forgot everything after he gets knocked out. Then why the hell would he challenge me the next day and do exactly the same thing he didst time?" Evin eximed in confusion.


    "I don''t know" Be replied timidly. She was starting to feel indebted to Evin because of the money.


    "Okay, I don''t mind a different sparring partner either. I''d probably have to fight Arza until I get bored with it during the journey," Evin said.

 Chapter 55: Illusions and trickery

    Chapter 55: Illusions and trickery


    Soon, anothermotion appeared on the training grounds. The previous fight made the audience''s blood boil, so another one of them was bound to garner the people''s interest.


    The youngdy of the house was surprisingly going for another spar, and it was with the so-called Child of the Empress of the town. Evin was a bit of a celebrity in the town of Smallwall, after all.


    Beyn consumed a tonic to restore her stamina and body. Her fight with Arza was exciting, but not really damaging. Mages usually have better bodies thatmoners because of the World energies that invigorate their flesh.


    Before the fight, Aran came to give Evin something. It was some sort of dried, crunched animal tissue bottled in some kind of murky liquid and Evin couldn''t help but feel revolted at the sight.


    "What''s that?"


    "It''s what I fed Arza before. It will help you hide your World energies for a day or two depending on your body. It''s the dried skin of a World chameleon," Aran exined and handed the bottle to Evin.


    Evin eyed the bottle warily and opened the lid.


    ''What the hell kind of name is a World chameleon?'' he grumbled.


    A salty smell invaded Evin''s nose alongside the distinct smell of something bile.


    Evin looked at Aran, like he couldn''t believe the man was suggesting him to eat the thing.


    "Just pinch your nose and swallow it, the faster you do it the better," Aran urged.


    Evin pinched his nose as told and slurped the thing as quickly as he could. He instantly regretted his decision. A foul feeling took over his entire body. His whole body convulsed with rejection due to the repugnant abomination that slid down his throat. He felt like he just swallowed salted vomit. He gagged a few times and finally got the chance to breathe without his body spasming.


    "Aren''t there better ways to do this?" he grunted out.


    "You''ll have to get used to it," Aran could only shrug at the pathetic state of the boy. It definitely wouldn''t be thest time.


    It took Evin a good ten minutes to get rid of the aftertaste of what he just swallowed.


    Be was kind enough to wait patiently on the sidelines. She went through the same thing herself, so she could definitely rte to Evin''s reaction. Her first time wasn''t any better as well.


    Evin was finally ready for the fight. Instead of an enhanced wooden sword that both Arza and Beyn used, he was using an enhanced dagger.


    "Let''s do a best of three, whoever wins twice will be the winner. I''m not that idiot over there, so you don''t have to knock me out to win the fight," Evin joked.


    "Okay, that''s fine by me," Be replied.


    The earl then asked the servant to start the match. The servant threw the same green cloth to the air. Right as it fell, Evin disappeared from Beyn''s eyes and merged into the shadow of a building.


    Be instantly took out a piece of metal from her pockets and imbued it with Luminous energy. She threw the object at the shadows that Evin disappeared into. She looked for any shimmering or other visual disturbances so she could know where Evin was.


    But just as she was thinking about such things, she realized she was surrounded from all sides by towering blue mes. And the most terrifying thing was that she didn''t notice a thing before the mes appeared in front of her face.


    "My first win," Evin''s voice resounded in right next to her ears. The boy materialized out of thin air next to her with his dagger stuck to her throat.


    Be finally realized what happened and was speechless at how dumbly she was defeated.


    The audience was even more confused with the fight.


    Right after the fight started, Be suddenly threw a glowing metal ball at the shadows of a nearby building, while Evin simply walked towards her and created scorching hot blue mes right next to her. He then held his dagger to the girl''s throat and dered his victory. Beyn didn''t seem to realize anything until thest second, either.


    Obviously, the girl fell to Evin''s illusion.


    The soldiers shivered at the sight. How terrifying would it be when you just die in battle without even understanding what happened to you?


    It was a simple mistake on the girl''s par. There were a few methods to check if something''s an illusion or not. Her mind subconsciously focused on the fact that Evin disappeared into the shadows, so she automatically responded with a counter to the Dark World. It showed how properly disciplines and knowledgeable she was, which Evin admired. But she was just a bit nave, and Evin gave her a simple reminder.


    "Well, using illusions are a bit boring, so I won''t use them in my next round," Evin said to Be.


    The girl didn''t reply and indicated that she was ready to fight again.


    The two went back to their starting spots, and the servant was asked to throw the cloth once more. The fluttering of the cloth was elegant while also random, so it served as a good way to keep tension up in these friendly spars.


    As soon as the match started, Evin started floating towards Be at impossible speeds. The girl, on the other hand, muttered something under her breath and an illusory third eye appeared on her forehead. With its assistance, she could see that the real Evin was calmly walking towards her in the same manner he did previously.


    Evin smirked when he realized that he was found out. He canceled his illusions and floated towards Be for real this time. His speed wasn''t as exaggerated as his illusions, but it was still fast for most beginner mages.


    Be tried to exchange blows with the boy, but found him too fast to keep up with. Evin was also using air bullets between his attacks to harass Be. She couldn''t see them, so they were extremely difficult to avoid. But she did feel d that Evin''s attacks were much weakerpared to Arza. It was like the difference between someone hitting you with a hammer and someone else hitting you with a wooden stick. Sure, it hurt, but the two''s powers simply couldn''tpare.


    She took out her signature mud armor and protected herself with it. The fight started to fare much better for her. Evin''s air bullets also started to lose their efficiency. Be was feeling a bit more confident. Evin was also showing a few mistakes here and there. They weren''t big ones, but they weren''t small either. Although she couldn''t make use of them for the time being, she would definitely manage to punish Evin soon enough.


    Because of the fight that was much less intense than Arza''s, Be even got the leisure to think about unrted things. She thought that since Evin focused on illusions, Arza would definitely have a hard time fighting. Arza seemed like a straightforward individual, so people like Evin were his worst enemies. So even though Evin was weaker than Arza in a straight up fight, he could still easily take care of a hot-headed boy.


    Just like this, the fight continued unremarkably. Even though Evin''s offence was sorelycking, his defense was as solid as a veteran. Be couldn''t find a single sessful offence when she initiated it.


    Be then started looking for a chance to take advantage of one of Evin''s mistakes. After a few exchanges of blows, Evin tried to perform a downward swing with his long dagger after building up some impact with his floating dash. Evin''s torso was wide open since his hands were above his head. Be felt like she could score a few heavy hits thanks to his mistake. She decided to tank the swing with her mud armor and go crazy on the offensive.


    But just as Evin''s dagger hit her mud armor, it pressed down on it with the force of two hammers, much heavier than any of Arza''s blows, directly bending the armor and hitting the cowl muscle next to her neck. She staggered from the pain and lurched sideways, her hand uncontrobly reaching towards her neck to hold it. Her concentration was broken, so the mud armor that was protecting her body gave awaypletely. The very next second, a powerful blow came at her sr plexus, forcing her to lurch forward now. Evin then hit the back of her neck in a practiced manner, hitting three spots where it would deal the most damage with surgical precision. Evin then held his knife to Be''s throat for dramatic effect.


    Evin used the Heavy World to make his dagger much heavier in thest second, so Be didn''t expect the strike to go through her armor. Evin felt that perhaps he overdid it, since the mud armor was pretty effective. Since it was basically liquid earth, the thing absorbed impact shock very efficiently, so Evin had to apply enough force so that his strike bends her mud wall and then ms down to her neck. Evin was feeling worried about the girl, since she seemed to nk out.


    Just as he was about to call Rith for help, Be came back to herself. Evin could see her warily eyeing her own family, like someone who did something embarrassing or bad, then looking around to see if someone saw her.


    "I concede" she managed to mutter out with a groan.


    ''What a tough little girl Can''t even afford to pass out in her own house,'' Evin sighed.

 Chapter 56: The Oath Stamp

    Chapter 56: The Oath Stamp


    Evin gently sat her up and beckoned Rith toe over. Rith sighed and used the World of Life to relieve Beyn''s pain and assisted the girl in healing herself.


    The pain from getting hit in three different vitals in the span of two seconds turned her body immobile and she was unable to muster up the strength to channel the World of Life and heal her battered body.


    The audience dispersed soon after they confirmed that Beyn was okay. The soldiers started discussing the fight, while the servants went on to perform their duties. Some female servants went to help Beyn up and brought her to her room.


    Be''s sistersmented a few spiteful words about their younger sister and left soon after. Evin wondered what the Earl''s reaction would be to the hateful attitude his two other daughters had towards his youngest, but the man seemed to treat it as a joke.


    Evin wondered how deeply did he fuck up Be''s life with that money. He knew that a huge amount of money in the wrong circles would be more of a burden instead of a blessing. He knew that Be''s family would pester her about it, maybe ask for a share when she grows up, but Evin was curious about how she''ll deal with it.


    Evin did not know why, but he got awfully interested in the girl after observing her for the day. It definitely wasn''t love, since he knew exactly how he felt when he got a crush on someone, but there was something about Be that drew him in with great force.


    As Evin thought about such matters, Rith finished her task and went back to Evin. The group decided that it was time to finally get on with what they came here to do. There were a few events that happened before it, but the moment finally came closer.


    Aran talked to the earl, and he agreed to bring the two boys to the Oath Stamp.


    As the earl led the way, Evin asked Rith some questions.


    "By the way, you seem to tell me much more information that you couldn''t tell me before, why is that?"


    "What do you think the Oath is?" Rith asked in return,


    Evin was imagining something like the World Contract, something you had to sign on or something.


    "Something like the World Contract? With some magical paper that you sign on and the Earl will stamp it with the Oath Stamp?"


    "It''s definitely not that. It''s a living being with thoughts and its own judgement. The Oath inside me knew that you were going to receive the Oath today and learn about all the ssified information that most mages know about. Since it''s just a few hours away, it doesn''t mind being a little lenient with me telling some information about them," Rith exined.


    ''What? Is it something like a parasite?'' Evin wondered.


    ''And since it''s able to judge people''s situations to decide whether its host is allowed to do whatever they''re doing, it must be pretty intelligent too''


    "Well, you''ll get to feel it very soon," Rith said.


    The group finally reached a room with various security measures that were put in ce. Evin did not know any of them, but he knew they were security measures because of how the Earl was interacting with them.


    After a few seconds, he brought out a square metal box with a circr hole going through it. For some reason, the circr hole was made out of some flesh-like substance, giving Evin a nagging feeling that the metal box was a living being. Just as he thought that, the flesh-like matter twitched slightly.


    ''What the fuck was that?'' Evin could not help but think.


    The earl presented the box to Evin.


    "Please put your hand through the hole and the Stamp will activate for you. It will hurt slightly, but don''t be afraid. Please don''t panic and don''t try to remove your hand from the hole. Everything will be fine after a few seconds," he exined.


    Evin thought of looking at Aran and Rith for confirmation, but he judged that the two would tell him if something was wrong.


    ''Maybe some assassins took care of them without me knowing it and they can''t remind me?'' Evin thought hopefully and looked at where Aran and Rith were waiting. Fortunately, or unfortunately, they were still there, observing the situation calmly.


    With no more excuse to dy the inevitable, Evin warily put his hand through the hole. When his elbow was about to reach its mouth, the mouth closed up and held onto Evin''s arms tightly. Evin could not see what was happening, but he could feel something wet slithering around his hands, feeling it with interest. Whatever the thing was, it seemed to have felt Evin up to its heart''s content and continued on with its work. Evin felt tiny needles pierce through his skin and start injecting something into his body. Aside from the initial pain, Evin didn''t feel anything else physically. But mentally, he was feeling very nervous.


    Evin really, really wanted to take his hands off the thing, but felt like something very, very bad would happen if he did that. He gritted his teeth and hoped that it would be over soon.


    Thankfully, just like the Earl said, the process was over and the box let go of his hand. Evin hurriedly took his hand away from the cursed thing and inspected his hands. Sure enough, he could see a few dozen needle punctures on it. He then inspected himself to see if the Oath''s effects were taking ce.


    "The Oath''s effects are going to take a bit to settle in. Perhaps in a few hours," Aran said, noticing Evin''s reactions.


    It was Arza''s turn to take the Oath now. The boy took it much more calmlypared to Evin. No fidgeting, no looking at his father, no bullshit.


    Evin felt a bit respectful towards Arza''s fearlessness, but soon her realized that the boy just doesn''t have any sense of disgust and fear, so his respect turned to concern for the child.


    Their job done, it was time to leave the mansion and depart for the North. Evin asked if they could just teleport there with Rith''s help, but Ssatsko exined that they have a bunch of ces to check out on the way.


    Before leaving, Evin spoke with the Earl and offhandedly told him to take care of Beyn. He wanted to sound like he was interested in the girl, so the Earl spends some attention on her. Evin didn''t want her to be bullied too hard, but knowing the Earl''s personality, Evin figured that it might not be that helpful, anyway. Well, at least he tried. And he can''t really do anything else to help her out.


    Evin met Ssatsko at his house with Arza in tow. Arza''s belongings were put inside Evin''s storage ne. Aran also gave the two of them two copies of a book named "Basics of Mages" written by some person named Unabach. Told them to check it out on the way, as the two will find life easier when they get to the North with such knowledge.


    Right before they departed, Evin first felt the effects of the Oath, when he tried to randomly ask about the contents of the book in public. Something seemed to take hold of his mouth and forced him to stop whatever he tried to say. Ssatsko looked at him with a knowing smile.


    "Feeling the effects of the Oath? Better get used to it soon," hemented.


    Evin used the World of Life on his body and found a tentacle like being coiled around his heart. Most of its tentacles were divided in many smaller limblings headed upwards to his brain and were connected to some areas of it like the eyes, the ears and the mouth, while the rest were sent to his limbs.


    Evin could guess that it shared his vision and hearing. He figured that it was also connected to his limbs to stop him from giving away information.


    If it''s like this with a normal Oath, then how exactly did Karan''s Oath function? It even followed him to the afterlife. Evin could only think of one possibility, and it was rted to souls.


    The Easterners were known as half-spirits, so they may have found ways to attach Oaths to someone''s soul. But such conjectures were useless for Evin to know about for now.

 Chapter 57: Travels and Studies

    Chapter 57: Travels and Studies


    On a small path near the border between the kingdom and the Tribes, a small boy was driving a carriage on the road. He didn''t really know where exactly he was going, or where he was in general, but his grandfather told him to follow the bald dirt road, so that''s what he was doing. He asionally pondered, why would people ever bother with this whole ordeal, even though there was a cat that could literally teleport him to anywhere in the World, sleeping on top of hisp.


    First few days of travel were very interesting for the boy. It was his first time going out of the town and everything. He felt like this was his first step into his path to immortality. He was thinking of glorious things like the first step of a ten thousand-mile journey began here, and other rted things that excited him greatly. He even started humming some war song he heard somewhere.


    But after 10 days, he realized how shit traveling was, even though he knew that he had it better than most, thanks to his magic. He could easily create baths for himself on the go, he didn''t need to carry a bunch of things thanks to his storage ne, he could keep the flies and mosquitoes away from himself by casting a simple buff on himself, he could take care of his sweating by utilizing the World of Water.


    But the truth of the matter was that it was a dull thing. Traveling. The boy wanted to focus on his magic studies, but his grandfather demanded that Evin should focus on driving a carriage for now. He did not understand the man''s logic. It would probably be thest time for Evin to drive a carriage in his life. He could fly in the air and all of his belongings could be stored in one ne. They had traveled for 20 days by now, but the boy reckoned that he could make the trip in a day if he was flying in the air unobstructed. Even better, it would only take a minute if the Feline on hisp decided to teleport them.


    But no. We must spend our time directing some dumb horses that would topple over the carriage in ten minutes if not supervised. Evin tried studying and driving, but decided against it after he almost fell off the driver''s seat when the horses drove into some random pit on the road.


    Evin was starting to really hate normal horses. Why couldn''t there be Celestial Stallions or something, a race who would create a national policy that focuses on turning every normal horse into a Celestial one through years of interracial breeding? Then the horses would be able to drive by themselves due to the increased intelligence, no? Wouldn''t it be revolutionary?!


    Self-driving vehicles were invented only in thete 20th century on Earth. But on Alvox, it would be introduced in the 13th century! Just imagine the possibilities!


    As Evin pondered about the cruelties of life, Arza came out of the carriage, well rested and energetic.


    ''Oh nice, Arza''sing to impart me knowledge,'' Evin thought in delight.


    He would avoid the boy in normal circumstances, but times were getting tough these days, so any kind ofpany seemed wee to Evin. The boy also came and told Evin about all the magical knowledge that he learned from Aran''s book, as well.


    Then, he consult about some of the more confusing things with Rith and Karan.


    Evin thought that traveling with Arza would not be a fun experience, but in all seriousness, it wasn''t that bad. Evin''s impression of Arza was a genius boy who could do most things with his talent, but it turned out that he studied extremely diligently when it came to studies. Evin was still in shock from the discovery.


    So Arza would spend most of his time digging through the book his father left him. Evin thought it impossible, but he could see some homesickness in the boy''s eyes when reading.


    All of this time Evin spent with Arza made him think why exactly the boy wanted to be a mage so much. Evin used to think it was just because it was cool, but something told him that there was more than meets the eye.


    "What ascendant knowledge have youe to impart to me today?" Evin asked.


    "Today''s is easy," Arza replied.


    "Oh, why?"


    "It''s just an introduction, and there isn''t any knowledge on how to use it. It''s called Inscriptions"


    "Is it something like drawings that give objects magical prowesses?"


    "No, those are called Engravings. Inscriptions are for you own body. They''re like tattoos, but ording to the book, you can store a spell in it and use it without the help of your imagination. You can also tuck a lodestone next to it, so it can automatically receive mana from it as well,"


    "That''s pretty useful. But how does it work forplicated spells like my floating? I have to do a lot of mental thinking to change directions midair or change my flying speed," Evin asked.


    "There''re special Inscriptions for those as well. Think of your floating spell like the main Inscription. Then you can add a bunch of extra Inscriptions like changing speed and changing directions. But I read that they''re quite difficult to remove, so you should only receive an Inscription for a spell that you''re absolutely sure you''re going to use for a long time," Arza recited from the book.


    "I see, that''s pretty cool. I don''t mind getting an inscription for my floating spell since I use it all the time. As for getting it removed, we''ll cross that bridge when ites," Evinmented.


    "Next are Engravings. These are simr to Inscriptions, but they''re for objects. I think the glove that girl from the mansion had was an engraved item, as well,"


    "I thought that it was only used for storing energy inside it, no?"


    "That itself needs an Engraving to work. Or else you would just get a glove with a bunch of sorbothium on it," Arza exined.


    Evin nodded thoughtfully. He felt that Engraved objects were the most used items in mage circles. He wanted to get something simr to Be''s glove, but found that such things were extremely rare and ridiculously expensive. Rith didn''t know how Be managed to get one for herself. She guessed that there was a powerful mage in her bloodline history that passed down the artifact to her.


    She then exined that most Channeling Artifacts only have two or three Core Shards on it and most mages make it themselves. No one has one with more than a dozen Core Shards like Be.


    "Did the book say anything about practicing them?" Evin asked.


    "None for Inscriptions and only sculpting and general engraving practices for Engraving"


    Just like this, Evin learned his much desired knowledge about magic in bits and pieces.


    At first, the two learned about how to more consistently use their imagination for different Worlds. Evin could now make use of each of the twelve World without issues. He could finally cast some World of Emotions and World of Space spells a bit. As for the World of Light and the World of Water, he was still ignoring them for the most part. Evin did not like water and even though he could now cast without getting affected by the Worlds so severely like his first time, it was still annoying to deal with.


    For the World of Emotions, it was best to make them work by associating them with something. Like happiness gas, or make-you-cry drink. But most of the time you would go for gases. Karan exined that griffins could directly affect someone with just magic, but that''s too direct for humans to use. So they try to make it a bit more obscure by making the emotional effect a byproduct of something else.


    Karan also said that humanoids who focus on the World of Emotions are usually much better than the griffins. The griffins don''t have to think about making something feel natural for their soldiers. They just raise their morale and the soldiers will ept it without fighting back. But for humans, they have to be much more subtle. They would need to use their mouth to set the mood and only use the World of Emotions when someone was already feeling the emotions that the mage wants in the first ce.


    Obviously they could force it upon their victims like the griffins, but that was only in super specific situations. Like how Karan was forced to receive it because the people who kept him wanted to make him feel specific emotions for a certain project.


    As for the World of Time, Evin still didn''t find any sess. He could somewhat make himself a bit faster than others, but it took an ungodly amount of lodestones.


    For the other Worlds, he found a few better ways to imagine them, but nothing substantial. Arza was probably the one who profited most from the book. He mainly only used three Worlds in the beginning, since he was just so naturally talented at them. But now, he could very easily use the other Worlds of magic. He even found a way to distinguish Illusions from reality, making his sparring sessions with Evin go much better for him.


    Evin needed to actually try hard in the fights, since his biggest advantage over the child was stripped open. These days, he''s been employing kiting tactics against Arza, since if you ever get caught with the boy in a melee brawl, it always turns into a messy fistfight.


    Evin didn''t mind such close range battles, especially since he learned how to use the World of Life to invigorate and harden his muscles, but he definitely preferred to keep his range between his enemies.


    Then came the studies of magical applications. Evin and Arza were still on this topic, with the Engravings and the Inscriptions. The previous days, the duo learned about a countless different magical nts and animals and their numerous and mostly obscure uses for mages. Most of it went through Evin''s one ear and went out the other one.


    There was also some bait in the book. It talked about World Core weapons and armor.


    The most distinguished mages of the kingdom are given a chance to receive Core Weapons and Core Armor. They were tools of war that were made from peak quality sorbothium ingots, which are also made with unimaginably high concentration of World Cores.


    Nigh indestructible when facing normal weapons, cleaves through steel like butter, gives perfect resistance to whatever World its Core is made out of and gives the mage unparalleled control over one type of magic World.


    If a Half-core mage would wear it, their raw power would rival Lesser-imposers. But needless to say, such things are pipe dreams for weaker mages, since only the most powerful mages would get the chance to receive such powers from the kingdom.


    They were basically mech suits. Oh, how Evin wished to get one for himself. It was a man''s romance. Even though he knew they were bait, he couldn''t help himself. He could only curse Unabach for writing such alluring content in his book.


    As Evin was lost in his own mind, Ssatsko ordered the two to set camp for the night. Arza and Evin did as ordered, and after setting the camp, they went to spar with each other. As always, it turned into a tag game where Arza would do everything in his powers to catch Evin.


    Lately, Evin''s been trying to immobilize Arza instead of just knocking him out, like he did before in hopes of humbling the boy. It was actually working pretty well, considering how Arza became much more tame. Aran''s boy was also actually learning things from the fights, instead of just attempting the same thing over and over like a madman. The boy''s progress was frightening, to say the least.


    Evin even wondered if he was the reason why Arza seemed to act like an idiot all the time. All sorts of stories about child head injuries and their consequences began to appear from Evin''s memories. Evin promised to never hit Arza unconscious ever again.


    After the sparring session ended, Evin took another look at the things that Arza exined to him. They were now about two-thirds finished with the book. Most of it described methods of imagination for specific Worlds, and they were quite wordy to say the least.


    Ssatsko was done with the cooking, so he called the two kids over.


    "Tomorrow, we should reach the borders of the kingdom. I''ll drive from tomorrow on, so you can have some free time in the carriages," the old man dered.

 Chapter 58: Mage Specializations

    Chapter 58: Mage Specializations


    Evin didn''t really find the prospect that exciting, but something about the way that Ssatsko said it made it seem much more interesting.


    "Is there something we need to mind in the border?"


    "Nothing to mind. The guards are used to people passing through with some kids in tow," Ssatsko said smilingly. The old man was acting kind of bashful, like he was excited to surprise us with something. Honestly, it was a bit difficult for Evin to watch. Evin could act like a kid, since outwardly he looked like a brat, even though he was much older than Ssatsko, but there was just something wrong about an actual old man acting in such a manner.


    The three soon went to sleep after each doing their own thing for some time. Before sleeping, Evin would spend some time talking to Karan in his head. It wasn''t much, but it seemed to help the sword deal with his situation a bit better. Though Evin never heard the manin about his circumstances even once. Evin even wondered if his attention was necessary in the first ce. He could only admire the man''s strong will.


    The next morning came, and the three resumed their journey. This time, Evin was sitting in the back of the carriage, floating in the air and reading the book. Sitting on the carriage itself turned out to be quite diforting, to say the least. The constant shakiness, the sudden bumps, the cking of the wooden wheel, the general feeling of motion sickness


    Floating on the air though, turned out to be much better. Without the endless shaking of the carriage, Evin could properly focus on the book and understand the content much more clearly.


    Rith also asked him to make her float alongside him. Soon, the Feline went to sleep.


    After about four hours of non-stop reading, Evin was able to finish the book by skipping some irrelevant info here and there. Arza was still reading, but the boy read much slowerpared to Evin.


    Just like its name suggested, the book only covered the most basic information a beginner mage needed. They introduced to the reader some of the mostmon methods to use the Worlds. Just like the Inscription and Engraving methods that Evin learned about the previous day, today he learned about Scroll-making, Artificing, Alchemy, World Formations, Sprite Casting and Core-bending. The author insinuated that there were a lot more uses to Magic than just the ones that were written in his work, but these were ones that were known by every mage.


    Scroll-making, Artificing and Alchemy were pretty straightforward. Scrolls could contain someplicated spells that could be used once without spending any mana. Their advantage was that the Mage could spend some time before a fight and own a bunch of scrolls that he usually couldn''t cast in a fight.


    Artificing was actually the art of inscribing runes and whatnot on objects. This was rted to Engravings and Inscriptions as well.


    Alchemy was the art of creating potions for various uses.


    World Formations were mostly used for defensive purposes. Evin asked Aran to put some defensive measures in his house and most of them were World Formations aside from the lineup of Engraved Devices. The ones that Aran put inside Evin''s house were one that attacked the people that were not registered on the Formation. The ones registered would obviously be Evin''s family and Aran''s family. There was also one that notified the town guards when something happened inside Evin''s house. One final formation was one connected to a scroll. The scroll had almost 1000 kilograms of lodestones'' worth of mana imbued into it, and even Evin didn''t know what it did. Aran just told him that it will definitely save his family from a perilous situation.


    World Formations were hard to use in fights since no enemy would allow you to set them up mid fight, but one could lure them into spots where Formations were hidden beforehand.


    Next were Sprite-casting and Core-bending.


    They were both kind of natural ways to increase your powers. Sprite-casting, as its name suggested, was a way for mages to employ World Sprites for their spells. They worked as a support for your will. Most mages struggled with their willpower being low. Even though they knew how a spell should work with their imagination, they couldn''t get their spells to work, since they were still bending nature''s forces to their will.


    Most mages have a talent for one magic World. Be it the Dark World, or the Luminous World, everyone had their bread and butter. So most mages want to find World Sprites that are suitable for them. Even the World Sprites themselves want to find a suitable host for themselves. It was a simr situation with the Giant Snake and its resident World Sprites of Life in the forest near Smallwall town.


    The art of Sprite-casting not only involved information on how to better cast spells with the power of Sprites, it also told one how to assimte the Sprites or even a Beast Lord within themselves better. There was also some information on how to feed and take care of the Sprites. For example, mages with World Sprites of Fire must visit ces with high temperature at least once a month, or else their Sprites might die out. If they are also assimting a Beast Lord by some kind of luck, the time they spend in such ce naturally increase.


    For the first few months, you practically have to spend every day in such ces for your body to assimte to the Beast Lords'' powers. Over time, when you get used to their powers, you can spend less time in such ces, but your body will start naturally craving for such ces themselves. It would feel very natural, like hunger or thirst.


    It was very interesting to read, but such things were too far for Evin to worry about.


    Next was the art of Core-bending. This one was a must learn for many aplished mages. It was the only way for them to increase the size of the mana-core, after all. There were thousands of methods to increase the size of your core, and 90 percent of it involved a World Core in some way.


    The concept for this subject was very simple. It taught mages how to absorb the powers from a World Core, or a Core Shard. The book started with an easier subject. The Core Shards.


    These little gems were much easier to absorb, since they only contained a fraction of the power that a World Core possessed. As Aran exined to Evin before, World Cores were the amalgamation of all the unused mana lodestones of a century. At the end of every century, all mana lodestones in the World would be gathered and turned into World Cores. The mana lodestones will then reappear in the nature as mana lodestone mines and whatnot.


    So one could imagine how much power a World Core might possess. Core Shards, on the other hand, were all over Alvox. Not only were they tinypared toplete World Cores, but they would be naturally weaker after they were broken down. For the smallest shards, most healthy mages could simply melt and turn them into pills and swallow them. It would naturally find it''s way to your mana-core and start assimting itself into it.


    For bigger Shards, you could break them down and take them as pills, but its powers would be lessened significantly. So your best bet would be to slowly absorb its powers and direct it to your mana-core. Compared to just swallowing it, where the process was automatic, for the bigger shards, you had to do it manually.


    There were many ways to absorb such powers. Meditating while channeling the World energies inside yourself was one way to do it. Some even try to submerge themselves in a bath that had absorbed the powers from the World core and do the absorbing that way.


    There were many different paths to take, but Evin didn''t need to know about such things for the time being, so he focused on the other contents in the book.


    It was also littered with advertisement for the kingdom''s resources and opportunities it gave to mages. There were so much of these things that Evin wondered if Unabach was held at gunpoint when he was writing this book.


    Evin''s guess of the academy working as a brainwashing tool to turn young mages more patriotic was starting to take hold more sturdily.


    ''Well, as long as they don''t actually start brainwashing me, I should be fine,'' Evin thought.

 Chapter 59: The Third Cataract

    Chapter 59: The Third Cataract


    Finished with the book, he stopped floating and got out of the carriage. To keep himself floating for the duration of the flight, he used about 15 kgs of crystal-grade lodestones. It was peanuts to him, but other beginner mages would definitely strangle him to death for such wasteful usage.


    The crystal-grade lodestones would take about a week topletely recharge themselves, so Evin put them inside his storage ne. Evin''s storage ne was one that could charge mana lodestones inside it. It was also bigger and moreplex than most normal storage artifacts. On top of the section dedicated for mana lodestones, it also had a section simr to a fridge where Evin could store his food without worry.


    He stretched slightly and got out of the carriage and went outside to sit near Ssatsko. To his surprise, the road they were taking was immersed in a thick fog. The carriage was covered, so he didn''t know what was happening outside. The fog made him feel quite weak and vulnerable. He couldn''t see 20 steps in front of him, and the whole ce was awfully silent as well.


    No wonder Ssatsko decided to drive himself.


    Evin wondered how the man was able to know where he was going, but then he noticed some signs and arrows pointing towards the border on the ground and on some sign poles.


    He also noticed a few signs that seemed to be conflicting as well. For example, there was a sign that said borders and pointed to the East, while there was another sign that also said borders but pointed to the west.


    "What''s up with the two different signs that point to different directions, but have the same name?" Evin asked the old man.


    "The false ones lead to bandit ambushes and some other less desirable ces, while the correct ones lead to the border," Ssatsko replied.


    "No wonder you wanted to drive yourself. Pretty sure we''d end up vanquishing a few bandit groups if I was the one to drive," Evin joked.


    "I''d love to see us kill those guys, but you probably won''t make a dent in their numbers. And we might end up in a den of a bit more dangerous bunch,"


    "Who are you talking about?"


    "Air-shifters," the man replied shortly.


    "Is that like Karan, but for gaseous substances?" Evin was startled and he couldn''t help but ask, "How many of these Shifters are there?"


    "As many as there are concepts in the World. Gas, liquid and solids Avians, mammals and reptiles Flowers, mushrooms and trees. Humans, Ivari and Layeq Griffins, Colossi and Myrmi Anything you can think of and there will be one shifter among them. You can say that the Cosmics connect the Empire''s gold, while the Shifters connect the Empire''s blood"


    Evin never met a skinshifter other than Karan in his life. But he suddenly had a thought that maybe someone in the town was actually a skinshifter. Perhaps the chicken he ate in the morning was a skinshifter.


    ''Eh, probably not. If I could turn into any avian I could be, I sure wouldn''t turn into a goddamn chicken,''


    Evin continued the journey in silence. Thankfully, they didn''t meet any bandits on the way, so the trip was quite uneventful. The silence of the fog was slightly disturbing, but somehow calming at the same time. It felt like a nk te, and Evin enjoyed the numbness and emptiness of the situation.


    Soon, the sound of sshing water became apparent in Evin''s ears. The moist air was slowly bing even more humid, creating tiny water particles on Evin''s head.


    Arza came out of the carriage because of the sound of a waterfall, and Evin recited about the things that Ssatsko told him. Rith was also awake at some point and was listening with interest. Arza wanted to go find bandits regardless, his justice instinct kicking in randomly.


    The sound of a waterfall became more and more apparent, and Evin finally got close enough to see the waterfall itself. He could only see a wide area where the water seemed to be falling from. He tried looking up, but his eyes couldn''t prate the thick fog. The sound it made was awfully loud, so Evin knew the water fell from a very high ce.


    He decided to channel the World of Storms to clear some of the fog away and sneak a look at the waterfall. He gathered the energy inside his core and threw it towards the sky.


    His spell shoved away the thick fog surrounding the waterfall, flying upwards for about a kilometer, and then disappeared.


    Evin was shocked with the revtion. This meant that this one waterfall was taller than the tallest waterfall on Earth. He told Arza toe over and throw his strongest fog clearing spell he could muster. The twobined their efforts, but it still didn''t go more than half a kilometer more. Because of the distance, thebined spell didn''t add up to two, but instead stopped halfway.


    Evin wanted to ask Rith, but Ssatsko smiled and gave him a scroll.


    "It''s called a Fog-clearing scroll. It should be able to do whatever you''re trying to attempt," he said.


    It was the first time Evin was seeing a scroll, so he wanted to very carefully inspect it while using it. But Arza threw a tantrum, because he wanted to be the one who used the scroll. Evin could only shake his head and give up.


    Happy with his victory, Arza used the scroll immediately. He just had to inject some mana inside it, so it worked as a catalyst. Instead of a wind spell, as Evin expected, tremendous amounts of heat appeared from the scroll. Evin could see that the tiny air particles in the air turning into gas, with vast amounts of steam flying upwards from everywhere in the area.


    The fog slowly disappeared over the course of a few minutes, leaving Evin and Arza with their mouths wide open. Evin could only describe the true size of the waterfall as huge. Evin guessed that it might even reach five kilometers upwards. That''s basically half of Mount Everest! And it''s a waterfall!


    And the most shocking part was that the cliff that the water was falling from continued on as far as Evin could see.


    ''Didn''t this mean that the Northern Tribes lived five kilometers above the Western kingdom? How would the kingdom wage war against them?'' Evin couldn''t help but think.


    "Wee to the Third Cataract, the second essible border crossing between the North and the West," Ssatsko dered with some pride.


    "How many of these cataracts are there?"


    "Total of four. Three of them inside the Kingdom''s territory, one near the Tower City," Ssatsko said.


    Evin realized that this cliff was only a fraction of the whole thing and it acted as the border between the two countries. The Kingdom was doomed to be under the North from the start. At least the North is a peace-loving country.

 Chapter 60: Tentacle monster?

    Chapter 60: Tentacle monster?


    Evin was listening to Ssatsko talk about the lore of how the Cataracts and the Great Cliff came to be. Most historians agreed that it was a byproduct of the fight between the Fourteen Heroes and the Mad Dragon. While some say that it was the byproduct of a fight between the Final Empress and one of the Fourteen.


    Obviously, the historians couldn''t tell exactly how such a thing came to be. Was it a powerful attack from a mage? Or did the dragon do something unfathomable? Some tried to ask the Empress, but she wasn''t one to exin things.


    All that the people were left with were spections of what might have happened.


    But all in all, Ssatsko''s story seemed a bitckluster to Evin. They were only spections in the end, after all.


    After that little story time section, the group decided to begin their ascent. The stairs upwards were located on the eastern side of the Third Cataract and ascended westwards. It continued on behind the huge waterfall, making the journey much more memorable that it should have been.


    Ssatsko and Arza walked upwards, while Evin and Rith floated nearby. The old man seemed used to the walk, while Arza was just Arza.


    They couldn''t talk with each other due to the noise of the waterfall, but Evin didn''t have such a problem since he had Karan with him.


    [I can''t believe one dragon was strong enough to fucking level an entire country. How strong are The Lau of today, then? And to think that some humanoids reach that height What kind of monsters live in this World?] Karan was grumbling.


    Evin didn''t get why the concept of strong individuals irritated the man so much.


    [By the way, what''s your end n here? Going to stay with me for my entire life as a weapon, or are you going to search for some other female metal skinshifters and have babies? How would that even work?] Evin asked inside his head.


    [I don''t know how it works, but I''m pretty sure it works asexually. You noticed how I be slightly bigger when I absorb metal inside me, right? I feel like I''m going to divide into to two parts some time,]


    [Yeah? Are your instincts telling you that you''re going to divide into two pieces like a cell?]


    [A cell? What''s that?] Karan asked, confused.


    [It''s what most organic life forms are made of. Look at my skin here, it''s made out thousands of little cells connected together and each of them divide into two when they need more of them. I''ll show you if I ever manage to learn how to,] Evin replied.


    The boy didn''t know how Karan could see or hear, but the man himself exined that he just could. Perhaps a blessing from the Empress on his ursed race, he said.


    [Sure you do that. As for my end n, I just wanted to be strong enough, so I don''t get caught by those organization assholes. I don''t want to live in constant fear that there''s someone out there to get me, you know? I know you''re thinking that we weathered the worst for the time being. We''ve been fine for two years already, so they must''ve given up. But I just know that it''s not yet over. Those fuckers will definitely send someone after us if they ever get a clue]


    Evin didn''t know what it was like for the man, but he definitely agreed with him. Even if the organization won''te for him, Evin himself might go to find them one day. They knew some information that might be useful for Evin''s immortality quest. Obviously, that was far in the future.


    [Is that why you feel so pressured by the ones at the top?] Evin asked.


    [Something like that. Hearing these stories about heroes and mad dragons, making me feel like I want to be them, you know? I know it''s a bit childish, like how a little boy wants to be a hero of the ages, but we live in a World where those heroes exist, you know?] Karan said wistfully.


    Evin realized something about the man. Even though he died when he was in his thirties, he was still an orphan boy when he was abducted. The man''s whole life was spent as ab rat. He still had childish dreams, and he still had these longing moments. Evin also understood how easily the man adapted to his new state. Such things happened to him once before, with his abduction.


    Unfairness was all that he got from life up to this point, and Karan was used to it.


    [It''s okay, I''m thinking something along those lines myself. I want to be immortal. After living for three centuries, you''d think that I''d be tired of life at this point, but no. I''m just like you, striving for the top] Evin chuckled.


    As the two joked around, their dull little trip was reaching the halfway mark.


    Ssatsko shouted at the group to follow him, walked towards a seemingly normal boulder and phased through it. Everyone in the group was shocked, but realized that something interested was going to happen soon. Arza ran inside the boulder without a care.


    Evin floated through the same rock and got on the other side. Complete darkness filled his vision and the noise from the waterfalls died outpletely. A creeping silence filled the area, and the boy suddenly felt what he always did in the World of Time. But somehow, this fear seemed fake,pared to the one in the World of Time. It seemed artificial, while the other one felt primal.


    Even though he couldn''t see anything Evin could sense the others from his group nearby him. They seemed to be making a lot of noise, but it all sounded muffled in Evin''s ears. He soon realized that he couldn''t even hear Karan inside his head.


    There was something wrong, and it was only happening to Evin. Realizing this, Evin immediately tried to grab a lodestone and channel the World of Thoughts. Unfortunately, he couldn''t move his hands. He seemed to be stuck in time without even knowing how it happened.


    ''This is so shit Wait, didn''t I follow Ssatsko into a boulder? Maybe I''m stuck inside it?'' he thought and tried to move forward.


    His feet were also stuck, so he could finally give up.


    ''Help me, guys. I''m dying or something,'' he could only think jokingly.


    He knew his situation was bad, but it wasn''t ufortable either. The total darkness andplete silence gave him a feeling of safety, somehow. He couldn''t quite exin it well, but the darkness seemed to be on his side, and having such a strong ally gave him confidence?


    As Evin was pondering about matters in his head, a female voice pervaded his consciousness.


    [How interesting?] it said, and Evin was released from the spell that he was held in.


    He finally got his sight and hearing back. He looked around to find Ssatsko and Rith with a worried face and Karan asking about his well-being inside his head. But Arza looked at him with pity. Evin didn''t know why.


    "What happened?" he asked in confusion.


    "We don''t know You went through the boulder like us, but you seemed to be struck under a spell,"


    Evin exined what happened to him to the group and Ssatsko concluded that it was the work of the owner of this ce. He led the group deeper into the cave behind the boulder. Contrary to what Evin experienced, the cave was lit plentifully with some glowing purple crystals and the group didn''t have any problems traversing. Evin felt that this ce gave off a simr vibe to the Serpent Beast Lord''s den, with its ancient and overbearing aura.


    And sure enough, some dark blobs of World Energy started appearing around the cave. They came to check out the visitors and gave them a slight revtion about the Dark World. And one more thing to take note was that they were gathering on Evin''s body much morepared to the rest.


    Evin was constantly experiencing Eureka moments while walking, and he was doing his best to remember all of them.


    Some of the World Sprites got on top of Evin and started clinging on to him from his hands or his feet. Their silhouettes looked like little children and it would look cute from afar, but a closer look showed that these children were made from the purest dark with no eyes or any other facial organs. It was quite a creepy sight, in all honesty.


    The group went further into the cave and found what seemed to be some sort of a monster with many tentacles waving around in the air. Evin couldn''t get a clear view on the thing, due to theck of natural light. Evin could only conclude that it was a blob of darkness with tentacles.


    He knew that it was the Beast Lord of the area, so he could only kneel on the ground and hope it wouldn''t eat him.


    "Vulpine Mother of the Deep, I have brought you two young mages that showed some talent," Ssatsko introduced.


    ''A fox?!'' Evin couldn''t help but hurriedly steal another nce at the creature. Sure enough, with him knowing what to look for, it did start to look more like a fox. The many tails threw Evin off. He couldn''t help it.


    The Vulpine nced at the group and nodded with satisfaction. One of the World Sprites around the group started making a jarring noise that resembled raw bloody meat rubbing on some rough texture. Evin nced at it and a mouth had appeared on its tiny little face. The thing grinned and a sharp row of teeth appeared behind its lips.


    "Indeed you did. I especially like this one. I was considering turning him into my host, but unfortunately, he is just a bit off. Even if I forcefully assimte myself into his body, it will be more likely that he will die, than take on my powers," the World Sprite smiled mysteriously and licked its lips with a bloody red tongue.


    It closed towards Evin andtched onto him firmly. Cold sweat rolled down Evin''s body, the transformed World Sprite forcing him to feel primal terror in his little heart.

 Chapter 61: The Beast Lords blood.

    Chapter 61: The Beast Lord''s blood.


    Evin was too terrified to realize how amazing this news was, but the others definitely knew how significant her words were.


    Ssatsko hurriedly asked the details of the Beast Lord''s decisions.


    "What does the boyck?"


    "Don''t call him a boy. He''s an old man, clearly. Though not as old as me," The World Sprite that the Vulpine Mother was using spoke. It let go of Evin and made a pondering pose.


    ''Well, we got the problem of my origin out of the way real fast. I''m starting to think that I shouldn''t need to hide my origins at all. No one seems to care that much really,'' Evin thought.


    "He is unworthy, but it can change in the future. People change and they get better, do they not? But another, more immediate problem with him now is the fact that he''s too weak. If I force myself into his mana-core, it would only serve as a gigantic burden. It would literally be the same as a 4-year-old boy trying to wield a two handed great sword," she exined.


    "Doesn''t that mean he simply has to get stronger? And eventually he will be worthy?" Rith asked.


    The Vulpine nced at the numerous World Sprites surrounding Evin. The Vulpine''s aura seemed to change and her mysteriousness seemed to lessen slightly, reced with warmth. Evin never thought he would ever feel such warm feelings towards a literal embodiment of darkness. Even though his mind knew that he was looking at a fox, his eyes kept telling him that he was staring at dark nothingness.


    The World Sprite that she was using to speak smiled brightly and said to Evin.


    "Time will tell. But for now, just continue on your little journey. Perhaps you can pray to the Empress for her approval of this matter. I know many that believe in her powers, and I''m starting to be one of them. Besides, some of my children seem to have decided to apany you, so if you ever receive the chance of assimting with me, you would have at least some practice"


    Evin was just reading about the wonders of Sprite-Casting. To think that such a chance came upon him so suddenly made him feel extremely grateful. Times to dwell in dark ces to create a suitable environment for the Sprites thate with him was nearing.


    But another word from the Beast Lord''s sentence caught Evin''s attention. He wondered how mighty the Empress must be, for this Vulpine in front of him to actually pray for her blessings.


    Evin could feel the unfathomable power that she contained in herself, when the World Sprite that she inhabited touched him. It felt simr to how he first felt when he almost went crazy due to the Heavy World''s pressure and met Two Tales. He felt only one feeling with these two entities. Unsurmountable and absolute. To think that if he received her powers, he too, could someday be someone simr to these two.


    Evin sighed wistfully.


    The World Sprite seemed to hear his thoughts and said to him in a small voice.


    "Be worthy of me, and all your wishes would fall into your grasp," the mouth said.


    "How do I be worthy of you?" Evin asked pensively.


    "That''s your problem to figure out, isn''t it? I can stay here for another millennium, waiting for one that truly fits me. But I''ll give you a hint on how to be worthy of me. Keep it simple. Simple, as in fundamental," the Sprite said mysteriously.


    Evin thought about her words and etched them into his mind. The vulpine continued.


    "As for your powers, it will grow in time. You don''t have to worry about that. Be a decent enough half-core and you should be able to take on my powers. Also, walk up the stairs. You''ll either start working on your body now, orter. Since you''re going to do it anyway, why not start now?" the Vulpine saidmandingly.


    Evin almost groaned, but managed to keep it in.


    The Beast Lord smiled and continued in hermanding tone.


    "I''ll at least help with your assimtion of my children. Strip off your shirt"


    Evin could onlyply with the Beast Lord. He didn''t know what to expect, but he was both excited and terrified.


    The fox resting on the deep side of the cavern stood up and walked towards him. Surprisingly, it was the same size as a normal fox, not counting the plethora of tails that waved around on top of it. Aside from the glowing white irises, every part of the creature looked like a lightless room in the middle of a starless night. Evin wondered what would happen if he shone some light on the fox. Will it reflect and show Evin some more details, or will she absorb the light like a ck hole that devours everything?


    "Turn around," The Spritemanded.


    After Evin turned around as ordered, the Beast Lord gently cut his back with her ws. Then, a drop of ck liquid materialized on her w tips. It seemed quite viscous, so the onlookers assumed it was her blood. She directed it towards the cut that she inflicted on Evin.


    Upon contact, the liquid hastily crawled into the cut and turned into an oppressive force inside Evin''s body. He feared that the liquid was trying to take over his body, so he nned to do everything in his power to resist it. But unfortunately, he didn''t know how he was supposed to resist in the first ce. It was an unknown liquid trying to take over his body in a way that he never expected to happen in his life.


    ''There are so many books where I read about how some characters getting infected with someone trying to take over their minds and they have an epic fight inside their heads, but how exactly does that happen?''


    Not allowing Evin to continue such random thoughts, the blood willed his body to bend over and start walking with his four limbs. Evin immediatelymanded his body to do the opposite. His body was stuck in a half hunching state, his hands trying to either drop to the floor, or grab at his head.


    ''So that''s how it happens! It''s just a mental tug of war!'' Evin managed to think before falling into battle with the liquid again.


    Rith and Ssatsko looked at the Vulpine Mother questioningly, but they knew they couldn''t really do anything to change the situation. They could only stare worriedly, like their hands were tied behind their backs. Even if the Beast Lord decides to kill the child, they could only beg for mercy and leave the cave.


    Evin, on the other hand, was gradually seeding at resisting the ck liquid''s influence. He could kind of keep a normal posture, but it took all his willpower to actually stay that way. He expressed his desire to enter the World of Thoughts inside his head and finally managed to achieve it. Luckily, the liquid did not affect his mana-core so he could have a moment to think about things here.


    ''There are so many invasive things in this World. First the Oath and then this liquid, or blood, most likely,'' he sighed. He then went on to analyze the situation during these few seconds of respite. Even though the World of Thoughts slowed down time greatly, given the blood''s speed, it would not take it much longer to start affecting Evin''splete body.


    He noticed that the liquid was seemingly following its instincts. It found itself in a body that did not stand on its four legs like it was used to, so it decided to make some changes in its new house. Evin guessed that if he let the liquid do as it wanted, he would start acting like a fox, more or less. The ck liquid could only be her blood.


    So Evin''s job was to tame the liquid and force it to adapt to its new house, without it trying to change its environment. He guessed that it might take some time to tame it, but that was the only way forward for him now. Luckily, the liquid had apletely independent consciousness from the Vulpine Mother. If the Beast Lord herself wanted for her blood to win this fight, Evin would probablyst two seconds beforepletely devolving into a fox-man. And that was probably an overstatement of his abilities.


    ''I can''t believe facing a Beast Lord''s drop of blood is giving me so much trouble,'' Evin managed to think, before prepping himself up to leave the World of Thoughts and face the drop of blood inside his body.


    As soon as he exited the World, he was met with the instinctual oppression of the blood. It was trying tomand his body to do as it willed, and Evin was trying his best to counter its wishes.


    A few hours passed as Evin was trying to deal with the animalistic urges that were being created inside him. The Vulpine Mother told the rest of the group that the process might take some time, so Ssatsko and Arza was setting up camp inside the Beast Lord''s den.


    After about a four hours, Evin managed to somewhat tame the blood inside him. He still couldn''t say that he hadplete control over his thoughts and his body, but it was a good start as far as he was concerned. He could at least act like a normal human for the time being.


    "Seems you''ve found some sess," the World Sprite came to him.

 Chapter 62: Shadow Storage

    Chapter 62: Shadow Storage


    Evin looked at the smiling World Sprite and nodded heavily.


    "Rest for tonight, I will take care of the rest tomorrow,"


    "Am I going to grow fur or go in heat or something if I let the blood do as it wishes?" Evin could not help but ask.


    The Sprite chuckled.


    "Not really. If it was the blood of a normal fox, you would probably do those things, but fortunately for you, I''m not a normal fox. I like to think that I''m a bit better than that. You won''t feel in heat, nor you will grow any excess hair. The blood simply follows its instinct. Just make sure you keep it in check for a week or two and it will get used to you," she said.


    "What does the blood do for me, by the way?"


    "I haven''t told you that, huh? Well, my bad, I guess. It will give you one of my abilities. I call it Shadow Storage. As the name suggests, you can store some items inside your own shadow. Unlike most storage abilities that can only store non-living things, the Shadow Storage can store living beings as well. It would be especially fitting for the storage of Dark World Sprites. You could probably put your friend Karan inside it as well," the Sprite shrugged.


    Evin did not remember telling the Vulpine about Karan, so he naturally assumed that the Beast Lord knew about it, since she went through his mind.


    "By the way, can all mages that are strong read my mind like yourself?" Evin asked in a worried tone.


    "No. I can do it because I am also proficient in the other Worlds as well, especially the World of Thoughts. Illusions and mental intrusions are my speciality. I''m quite good at the World of Fire as well. It is one of the reasons why I''m so interested in you."


    "So if I meet someone who''s proficient at the World of Thoughts, they would be able to peek into my mind?"


    "Yes. But you don''t have to worry about such things. On Alvox, there are only a handful of such people, and most likely, you won''t be unlucky enough to stumble upon all of them. Besides, even if you do meet such a person, I''m sure they would not be using that ability on everyone in their sight... But I guess it would still be prudent of you to keep your distance away from them. Most of them have lived for hundreds of years, and I cannot be sure of what they''re thinking of. But one that''s absolutely safe is Veidrakar. If you ever find yourself a lucky chance to get acquainted with her, don''t hesitate to do so," the Sprite said.


    Evin thought about it and felt quite lucky. He guessed that not many people could get a chance to meet multiple Beast Lords and Authorities, if any. He was even going to meet another Beast Lord when the Cosmics decide to ept him.


    ''How does Ssatsko know about all these ces with Beast Lords, anyway?'' he thought.


    He shoved the thought away from his mind and decided to try out the new skill he got. He asked the World Sprite on how to go about it and was told that he needed to direct Dark Energy to his own shadow. He did as instructed, and he could faintly feel the new changes that had happened to his shadow. He tried putting in some misceneous items inside his shadow to test it out. As the World Sprite said, he could freely put things inside it and he could faintly feel their presence in them as well.


    He stopped directing energy to his shadow. He wondered what would happen. He would be quite disappointed if the item he stored inside would just plop out into existence. Fortunately, it was still contained inside his shadows without problems. He then tried to run and jump around to see if it slips out somehow, after which he tried to let his shadow fall on vertical objects as well.


    The Beast Lord saw it all and did not know whether to feel amused or angry.


    Evin then called Arza and asked him to surround Evin''s body with light from every direction. The boy did as asked, and blinding light surrounded Evin from all directions. Evin tried his best to feel the presence, orck thereof, of the items in his shadow. He could feel his shadow falling on his clothes, and the items stored within it as well. He told Arza to stop, and the boy stopped.


    The World Sprites around Evin scurried into the darkness, unused to the bright lights. Noticing it, Evin was afraid that the Beast Lord would be angry, but he only saw indifference in the Vulpine''s posture. She also seemed a little more slouched as well.


    ''Probably not the first time someone tried to smother her out with the Luminous World. Arza''s little light show probably wasn''t worth getting angry over in her eyes,'' Evin concluded.


    Evin continued on with his experiments. He asked Karan inside his mind if he wanted to enter his shadow and see how it felt.


    [I don''t mind trying,] the skinshifter replied.


    Evin redirected Dark energy to his shadow and its Storing ability was reignited. He removed Karan from his finger and asked him to turn into his mostfortable state. The Metal skinshifter turned into a slim oval spear with a sharpened straight de tucked on its head. It was almost thrice Evin''s current height. Evin slowly put the spear inside his own shadow, starting from the tip of the de.


    Karan disappeared into his shadow as expected, and Evin triedmunicating with him inside his head. He could clearlymunicate with the man without issues.


    [Ah, this shit''s kind of nice. It''s a bit ufortable to be swinging around as a ring in your hand all the time,] The skinshifter said.


    It was the first time Evin heard himin.


    [Why not tell me about it earlier? I''m sure we could''ve found some other way to keep youfortable?] Evin asked.


    [Well, I somehow feel more at ease when I take on simpler forms. The spear form is best, since it slim and simple. It''s practically just a pole with a straight de attached to it. I tried out many forms and moreplicated ones, like the ring form that I''m usually in is considered quiteplicated. But it''s true that it''s the most low-profile,] Karan exined.


    [Don''t worry about such things, maybe just turn into a short spear, I would just look like an overeager child,] Evin said.


    [Well, now we don''t really have to worry about that. This shadow of yours is quitefortable. Even though it''spletely dark and the ground is made of some weird unnatural dark material, it feels calming and warm, even though you don''t really feel any heat from it. I can also look and hear what''s happening around if I look at the sky above. I could really get used to this shit,] the man sighed inside Evin''s head.


    Evin found the man''s words a bit contradicting. Usuallyplete darkness instilled panic and fear in people.


    "Vulpine Mother? Karan says that theplete darkness inside my shadow feels calming and warm. I find that a bit weird, since most people feel fear and panic when faced withplete darkness. Is it an effect of your spell?" he asked.

 Chapter 63: The Princess of Denial

    Chapter 63: The Princess of Denial


    "It''s an effect of my blood and my specialty. For most, darkness represents the unknown. People usually fear the unknown more,pared to the darkness itself. If you go out in the middle of a starless night, your imagination will take you on a brief trip through terrornd. But for beings like me who can clearly see, or at least navigate in the dark, it represents safety and serenity. Everything that tries to invade or clear the darkness away are seen as hostile forces. So the shining light that brings you hope is considered a herald of doom for us. Didn''t you see how my children feared the Luminous spell from that boy? They''ve never seen such bright lights, so their first response is to hide from it in the familiar darkness" The World Sprite exined patiently.


    "Am I going to have problems going out in daylight from now on?"


    "Hah, why not think about some things yourself? And also, work that rotten brain of yours for once, I''m not one who enjoys small questions," the World Sprite said with a grin before continuing, "Actually, ask me one good question. Something that I will enjoy answering. If I don''t like the question, I might do something unfavorable to you"


    Evin was put in a tough spot. He really didn''t enjoy thinking. When he wandered the World as a spirit, nothing really needed to be thought over. He just existed and whatever he did, had nothing that could be called consequences. He knew that he preferred spoonfed answers over ones that he had to think over by himself.


    But it wasn''t like he was dumb in the head. When forced to face a problem, he would try to solve it to the best of his abilities.


    ''What would be considered a good question? Nothing that concerns the Vulpine''s blood, and its effects on me, that''s for sure,'' Evin pondered.


    He went over the previous conversation to see if he missed something interesting. The Vulpine Mother seemed to like talking about her own nature or the nature of the Dark World, since she talked about those things the most. Evin thought about it and found a question that might interest her.


    "Can you tell me what Darkness represents to other powerful beings like yourself?"


    The World Sprite grinned in its usual manner.


    "Let''s start with the top. To Lady Hin, darkness represents the unknown and mysterious. She is the one Authority that is the most mysterious to mages. Every other Authority''s deeds and epics are sung by bards across the World. You know the exact number of beasts they yed, who they slept with and what they have for lunch, if they ever need to eat. Compared to that, songs about the Lady never include any details. Always the same songs about her obscurity and secrecy and some asional poets who try to paint her as a temptress,"


    ''So if I ever get the Shadow Storage spell from the Authority herself, the living beings inside my Shadow would feel uneasy?'' Evin thought in wonder.


    "She has her own cult somewhere, and most of the members are Dark World users. Their darkness is mostly simr to the Lady''s one. Obviously, there are some different ones among them, like the Darkness of Sin, or the Darkness of Deceit,"


    ''So edgy... Oh no, what the hell''s going to be my form of darkness?'' Evin could not help but ask himself.


    "But as far as I know, the most prominent Dark World user of our time beside the Lady and the Beast Lords should be a mage in the South. It was one of the ambitious Northerners who didn''t enjoy the peace of the North. But he acted like a good Samaritan for most of his life, before going to one of the battles with the South. When he got there, he betrayed his entire battalion and usurped to the enemy''s side. After which, he became a headache for the World since he could get stronger without restraint, since the South was a ce that valued strength the most. His name is Relvek, and his Darkness was one of Purification. Although, I don''t know how exactly it works, words say that he can purify spells into pure mana with his Darkness Abilities," The World Sprite added.


    Evin guessed that Relvek''s ability should have some limits, be it being partially effective or simply ineffective on some spells.


    "There is also one of the Fourteen Heroes who fought with the Mad Dragon, The Empty Knight. There were no concepts of Worlds back then, with everyone doing whatever they wanted. It was much harder for mages to cast spells, since they didn''t have a channel like the Worlds to purify pure mana into different energies like today. But they still used simr magic to us, most of them simr to magic that the Worlds allow us to cast. But that''s beside the point. The Empty Knight''s Darkness was one of devouring. He believed that everything will eventually be consumed by darkness, so his Darkness'' ability was to devour intangible material. It devoured Light, it devoured Fire, and it could also partially devour Space, Emotions, Illusions and Thoughts, depending on some circumstances. The devoured materials would strengthen him in return, making it a nightmare for the users of Light and Fire," the Beast Lord narrated.


    ''Isn''t that extremely overpowered? Come to think of it, how strong was the Empress, to be able to contest with such characters back in her mortal days?'' Evin could not help but think.


    "Do you know what kind of powers the Empress had before her ascension?" Evin questioned with curiosity. When one lived in Alvox, most swear words one heard involved the Empress'' name in one way or another. One could not help but feel curious about her origins.


    The Vulpine heard the question and frowned slightly.


    "The records of the Empress are ridiculously small. She was the most low-profile of the Fourteen Heroes, ording to some records. Her fame was simr to Lady Hin''s with no one that knew exactly what she could do. She was the ruler of a small country named Von, which was wedged between the three Empires of that time. You would think that such a small country would notst long during those years of war and bloodshed, but reality was that every army that was sent to Von''snds faced only the Empress and none beside the Empress survived. The Heroes of that time could probably defeat her if they joined forces, but the mysteriousness of the Empress and the rtively smallnds of Von did not allow for such an oue toe true," The Beast Lord recounted.


    "There must be at least something though, no?" Evin refused to believe that the entirety of Alvox held such little information about its ruler.


    "There was only one thing that was known about the Empress of that time and that was her title," the World Sprite spoke in a torturously slow pace.


    "What is it?"


    "The Princess of Denial"

 Chapter 64: Cub of the Empress

    Chapter 64: Cub of the Empress


    A brief silence ensued in the cavern. At some point, Ssatsko and Rith hade to listen to the tales of the old. The Vulpine Mother''s true body had alsoe near Evin, lying on the ground with its head perked up towards the little group. The World Sprite she was using to speak continued.


    "Perhaps she was titled so, because she was so adept at denying the efforts of the various Empires'' advances? Or was there a list of unfortunate men who were captured by her beauty, but could not quite achieve their desires?" The Beast Lord joked.


    "How do you know about these things in the first ce? I thought Beast Lords couldn''t leave their ce of origin," Evin asked.


    "It isn''t as if we absolutely couldn''t leave. We simply start dying rapidly if we do so. But it is possible to leave for a few weeks. And besides, I was just a normal spell caster before I became a Beast Lord, albeit one very interested in the applications of the Dark World. The tales of the Empress are one I found when I was searching information about the Empty Knight"


    "What?"


    The things that the Beast Lord was saying didn''t quite add up.


    "I suppose I''m what you would call a Cub of the Empress. Though, I was quite a proficient mage in my previous life," the Beast Lord joked.


    "You''ve reincarnated into a fox?"


    ''Can I write a novel about this?!''


    "Yes. I was shocked and fearful at first, but how could I know that whatever happened to me was the best thing that could happen to a mage at the time? I wandered the forest as normal fox for a while, before I stumbled upon a lodestone mine. The rest of the story is quite nd, with me simply staying near the lodestones while hunting for food asionally. After I became a Mana-Beast after a few years, I started to familiarize with my new body that could channel Worlds."


    "Although it was much more crude and out of controlpared to humans, with my years of experience of working with the Worlds in my previous life, I could easily control the mana inside my new body. Eventually, I found this area filled with Dark World Sprites. I thought it was fate, so I didn''t hesitate to devote my time to be a Beast Lord... though, I severely underestimated the time needed to be a Beast Lord. I believe it almost took me two hundred years to finalize the process. I remember taking holidays from all that assimtion by traveling to various ces asionally," The World Sprite said with mncholy.


    The group was too shocked to makements, so the World Sprite dispersed the group with a p from its little hands.


    "Story time''s over. Let''s go to sleep"


    Evin and the rest went to their tents to sleep, but Evin was thinking about what kind of darkness will he have if he decided to focus on this path. All the unique aspects of different mages seemed extremely powerful to him, but he felt that they didn''t fit him. He understood that the Vulpine told him about these knowledges, because she wanted to let Evin have a head start when he was creating his own unique darkness.


    It didn''t really have to be darkness in the first ce. All the Worlds eventually led to developing one''s own uniqueness.


    Evin was pondering about what certain Worlds meant to him, but he soon fell asleep in the dark caverns.


    The next morning came and Evin was woken by a bunch of World Sprite tugging at his body. He groggily got up from his bed and started changing.


    The mornings were still his biggest weakness. After finishing his needs, he went on to a table that was set by whoever woke up the earliest and started munching on breakfast alongside a group ofpletely dark children that stared at whatever he was doing. Evin then went to meet the Vulpine Mother and receive the World Sprites from her.


    Noticing the little boying towards her, she nodded and ordered the World Sprites, who were willing to go with the boy to assimte themselves within him.


    There were hundreds of World Sprites in the room, and almost one third of them went towards Evin. Most of them were the ones that were following him from the morning.


    "Open your Shadow Storage," one of the World Sprites said.


    Evin did as ordered and the World Sprites started falling into his shadow one by one. He could then feel all of them inside him. He counted exactly 98 World Sprites that went inside his shadow, and after they went inside of him, he could start hearing stray thoughts inside his head.


    "Dark"


    "Safe"


    "Away"


    "Home"


    "More"


    "Mother"


    The thoughts didn''t make sense to Evin, but they were told in such a mncholic tone Evin couldn''t help but try harder to understand them. His task was doomed to fail from the start, so he could only give up after a few minutes.


    "Seems that everything is fine. Sometimes the World Sprites start rampaging inside their new host, so if you ever get the chance to assimte more World Sprites, make sure to do it in the presence of the Beast Lord or someone else capable of solving the problem," The Beast Lord exined.


    "Thank you for your help" Evin replied.


    "Thank the Empress'' will," The Beast Lord shrugged.


    Evin immediately tried out his most used Dark World ability, which was to merge himself into the shadows. The process was much easierpared to his previous attempts with the help of the World Sprites. He decided to spend some time alone in the future to properly experiment with them.


    The group''s little detour gave Evin so many benefits, so everyone was quite happy with the situation. Arza was a bit jealous, but he knew he would never have a chance with Dark World Sprites.


    Evin then asked Ssatsko about how he found out about the spot.


    "It was actually my father who told me about this ce. I don''t know how he found it, but he told me to bring my descendants here to see if their luck was good enough. I was nning to leave the information about this ce to you, so you could teach your descendants as well But how could I know that you would be the one to receive its benefits," Ssatsko exined. The old man didn''t bother telling Evin to keep the matter secret.


    He knew that Evin wasn''t dumb, so he knew that the boy wouldn''t wantonly reveal its locations.


    The group continued their ascent, but this time with Evin walking up the stairs like the rest. While they were ascending the fog surrounding the area was suddenly cleared with heat and the group could see the scenery from above the cliffs.


    A beautifulndscape of the kingdom entered Evin''s eyes and for some reason, it moved Evin greatly. Evin felt like teardrops were going to fall from his eyes if he kept looking so he decided to look at the people who cleared the fog with the familiar scroll.


    Evin could also see another group of travelers at the bottom of the waterfall. He then noticed that they put all of their inventory and carriage inside a spatial storage ring and actually set the horses that were carrying the carriage free.


    Rith took care of storing the items, even the horse, so Evin didn''t really know how normal people went about their business. Well, calling them people would be a bit wrong, since they were obviously mages.


    Evin noticed a child between them, staring intently at the magnificent full view of the Third Cataract. It was a boy, about the same age as Evin, and he reminded Evin of himself a day ago, staring at the Cataract with awe and shock.


    The boy seemed to notice the group climbing the stairs and happily waved his tiny hands, while shouting something. Arza shouted a "Hey" back, but it was much louder than the boy.


    The boy seemed to take that personally as he shouted back even louder.


    ''Fucking idiots'' Evin cursed in his head and closed up Arza''s mouth before the situation could devolve into a shouting contest.


    Arza gave Evin a pleading look of betrayal and pain, but Evin ignored it and walked upwards the stairs. He nced back at the boy and found him standing in a triumphant pose, content with his victory. The people surrounding him were fussing over him, so Evin realized that it must be a young master of some family.


    The rest of the trip was uneventful, and the group finally reached the top of the Cataract.

 Chapter 65: Purzo

    Chapter 65: Purzo


    At the top of the Cataract, Evin could feel the superiority of the Ivari. Just by looking down on the vastnds of the kingdom from four kilometers high above, he could confidently say that a war between the West and the North would never happen. Or at least, it would never be dered from the kingdom''s side. It would be such a doomed war from the start, no one would want to bother with it even if the Empress promised a seat beside her divine throne for their victory.


    And it wasn''t even a problem of topography, the Northerners weren''t a bunch of weaklings inbat either. So with such heavy disadvantages, the Kingdom''s side was doomed to lose from the beginning. It felt almost refreshing, since everyone could confidently say that they will lose.


    It felt the same as having too much debt. Most people had some sort of debt to a bank and it amounted between 1000 to 5000 dors. And those people lived in constant stress and worry, since one or two missed paychecks would be enough to destroy their livelihood. But if they ever manage to rue millions in debt, the number starts making less and less sense to the person and they stop caring about it, eventually.


    Evin sighed and followed the group towards a building at the end of the stairs. There was something written on it in Northern and under it, "Customs house" was written in Imperial. Evin felt that the building was there just as a formality, or strictly formoners, or the people who wanted to go through the proper procedure, since there were a thousand ways a mage could just go around it.


    Evin shook his head and entered the building after the others. Arge old man was sitting behind a counter, his teeth gnashing on a hard, brown jerky. There were pieces of meat stuck on his grey beard and a slight tint of red painted his cheeks. He also had a ram shaped purple horn on top of his head.


    Seeing Ssatsko, the man harrumphed unhappily.


    "Damn sly wolf, how many years do you need toe visit me once? You eithere to take missions for the Tribe or you juste for the Horn Ceremony for your grandchildren," the old man bellowed and went up to give Ssatsko a pat on the back.


    The full size of the man was enormous. He easily stood a head taller than Ssatsko, who had a thin, but tall and fit build.


    "You expect too much," Ssatsko replied and gave him a pat in reply.


    Evin could see that his grandfather was struggling to reach the giant man''s shoulders.


    "These your brat''s brats? What''s with the cat? One of your kids don''t want to part with their pet?" the man asked after eyeing the rest of the entourage.


    "The ck-haired one is. His name''s Eviendra, Evin for short," Ssatsko said, but a loudugh interrupted his introduction.


    "Puhahah, a wise drakeling in our little customs house, huh? Never thought I''d see one in the flesh!" the manughed with tears appearing at the edge of his eyes.


    Evin could only shrug with resignation. Perhaps it would be best to not introduce himself as Eviendra in the North.


    Ssatsko continued the introduction after the man calmed down.


    "Arza over there is Theor''s friend''s son. Rith is actually a Cosmic, who was sent to monitor Evin"


    Hearing the true nature of the Cosmic, a worried look appeared on the man''s face.


    "Ah, sorry for calling you a cat and a pet. These eyes of mine seem to have been failing over the years. I go by Purzo Lokan, I''m an old armyrade of Ssatsko here." an unnaturally polite voice appeared from the man''s mouth.


    "Don''t worry, it is difficult to tell, since I''m not a pureblooded Cosmic," Rith reassured the man.


    "Well, let''s get you registered. Even though it''s not absolutely necessary, it will surely make your life in the North much morefortable," Purzo said amiably.


    Evin didn''t really feel it due to his close friendship with the Cosmics, but most people regarded the Cosmics as something unreachable or untouchable to them. Especially so for ones who lived in the countryside and never had a chance to go to big cities, or more popted areas. Evin found the giant man''s panicked expression quite amusing.


    The group received their new identification papers with their names and details written neatly on them by Purzo. Evin found it impressive how the man managed to write so adeptly with those fingers as big as Evin''s hands, while also a bit tipsy with some ale as well.


    The group was not in a hurry, so they decided to stay in the customs house for a bit longer, so Ssatsko could catch up with his old friend for a while. Purzo gradually went back to his normal personality, and his loudughs filled the customs house once again.


    Arza seemed to like the big man very much and wanted to stay at the post for a little more as well. Evin on the other hand was sitting in a dark corner feeling out the new World Sprites in his shadow.


    He could easily will the World Sprites to assist with his Dark World''s workings, and the cute little things seemed to like helping Evin as well. They were a bit afraid of the sudden brightness of the world outside the dark cavern and were a bit shy at first. But since they were vaguely connected with Evin''s mind, they understood that the bright lights weren''t harmful to them, so they could more easily get used to the new environment, and their fears soon turned into curiosity.


    A simr situation was happening with the ck Blood inside Evin. The boy would randomly feel the urge to hide, or run because the blood found something that felt dangerous to its host. A good example would be the giant man that was sitting inside the house.


    The blood''s instincts told him that big enemies were strong enemies, so it was reluctant to get near such a mighty foe. The instinct inside the Blood was the same as a newborn cub, so it had to learn a lot of new things on its journey with Evin. Evin didn''t know why the blood of a Beast Lord would be this timid, but the reasons were for his own safety.


    The Vulpine Mother made sure to clean every bit of her own personality from the Blood, as the chances of a Blood with her will inside taking over Evin was so high it wasn''t even funny. Especially so for her, since she was a Beast Lord proficient in the World of Thoughts.


    But ignoring its timidness, it was still a very useful thing to have for Evin. He could tell that the presence of the blood did wonders to calm the World Sprites and made it much easier for them to limatize to their new environment. It seemed to passively increase Evin''s affinity with the Dark World as well.

 Chapter 66: Dark Revelations

    Chapter 66: Dark Revtions


    Evin was constantly getting new "revtions" about the Dark World''s usages. For example, would it be possible for the shadows to influence physical objects? Would it be possible for Evin himself to store himself inside his own shadow? Would it be possible for him to create Shadows on spots where light was shining on?


    He tried out all these things and found out that he could basically do everything his imagination told him to do. The World Sprites boosted his willpower so much, Evin was finally starting to feel like a real magician, a force truly able to bend nature to his will. Before, he would at most act like a catalyst. If he wanted to start a fire, he would have to pay the price of mana to the Worlds and receive its assistance on sparking an ember. Using that ember, he would be able to give it a bit more oomph with the oxygen in the air.


    But now, he didn''t need to go through all thoseplicated things. He just had to will it and it would happen for him. Although he could only do such things with the Dark World, he was still very content with his new capabilities.


    Anyway, his new spells.


    Evin soon realized that he could store himself in his shadow and have his shadow move around as well. From what Rith told him, the shadow would look a bit thicker with him inside it, but if he moved into a darker area, Evin''s location would be nigh invisible. Evin tried to change the look of his shadow to match the surrounding shades, like he did when he wanted to be almost invisible through the Dark World, and soon got the hang of it.


    Thanks to this, Evin could basically be invisible as long as there were shadows in the area. And it wasn''t the same scuffed invisibility that he used normally, which would start looking odd when someone looked at Evin in a difference angle, or shone a light on him. Although he couldn''t really do anything from inside the shadows, like casting magic or throwing knives or something at the enemy, but it was still a very useful ability.


    Next was his ability to increase a shadow''s size forcefully. For example, he could make it so that a spot without a shadow would be encroached with the shadows of a different object. He also tried to create a dark ce where there were no other nearby shadows to feed upon, but it took much more mana than he wasfortable with. Evin would make sure to not fight in an open ce, as it would be disastrous for him otherwise.


    Perhaps he wouldn''t have to worry about those things in the future when he received his quarter core or half core, since the mana at his disposal would be much more than what he could work with now.


    The final thing he managed to try out was his shadow''s ability to influence physical objects. He could make it so that his shadows covered the entirety of an object and then turning it into a disoriented ck object, so he guessed he could say that he was influencing the object, but for the love of the Empress, he couldn''t make it physically move.


    But he could imagine a bunch of little critters made of Dark World energy moving objects. He based his imagination on the World Sprites. After hosting them for half a day already, he could tell that these things were physically hollow inside, made out of only Dark Energy. But somehow, they could move about and touch other things. Evin didn''t know exactly how it worked, but he could imagine a lesser World Sprite moving things for him like ants would move big objects, and that was good enough for the time being.


    As he was finishing up his little experiment, the door of the customs house opened and a group of well-dressed people came in. At the center of the group, a boy about the same age as Evin was walking, arrogance and confidence oozing from his pores. His hair was dark brown, with sharp eyes and a natural sneer stuck on his face. His clothes were a regal blue, a color tone that was quite difficult to achieve for the ink makers of this time.


    The servants around the boy that were busily fussing over the kid did not seem to help the boy''s temperament at all. Another hooded man walked behind the group, warily eyeing the strangers in the customs house. Evin saw a shining transparent horn on the man''s head. The man''s stature was also tall and beefy.


    ''A Northern mage of the World of Storms. Most likely adept at melee fights as well,'' Evin noted in his head.


    Evin didn''t know whether tough or cry. He always knew that spoiled young children gued the World, and he even saw many spoiled adults throwing tantrums to get what they want. Even as a spirit, he would avoid them like a gue. He felt that he should hurriedly go restrain Arza, so there wouldn''t be any unnecessary problems in the customs house.


    The servants of the young master were talking to Purzo for the documents for foreigners. They didn''t bother to hide their dissatisfaction with the man, looking at him like a dog on the streets. Purzo was back to his professional personality, since he didn''t want to deal with overbearing nobles from the West.


    Arza was standing behind the counter alongside Purzo.


    "Hey Arza, I need your help with something," Evin said after approaching the boy.


    "Do itter. You always ask me to act as a gigantic light source for your shadow magic. Go ask Rith," Arza said with unwillingness.


    "No, no. I found a way to make my shadows into armor, I''m not sure how strong it is, so I need you to give me some of your punches to test it out," Evin said.


    The prospect seemed to pique Arza''s curiosity as his eyes sparkled with interest.


    "Sure! Let''s go out," the boy said happily.


    Evin didn''t have any new shadow armor ability that he wanted to try out, but it was the only thing he could think of on the fly to get Arza''s interest.


    But getting a hit a few times so he didn''t have to deal with some spoiled noble was a big win in Evin''s eyes, so he could only grit his teeth and endure the pain.


    But just as Evin and Arza was about to exit the building, the brown-haired noble boy called out to Purzo.


    "What''s wrong with this loathsome ce? Don''t you have servants to serve your guests?"


    "I''m terribly sorry for thecking services, but this is a customs house so there wouldn''t be anyone with such profession here," Purzo exined patiently.


    "Then who the hell are all these people here? Don''t they have anything to do? It would be their honor to serve one with my blood," the boy dered with pride.


    ''He really does know how to get on someone''s head,'' Evin sighed in his head. Evin looked around and saw that Ssatsko was slightly affected, but was probably thinking the same as Evin. Rith just looked at the noble boy like an animal at a zoo, wondering what he''ll do next.


    Arza, on Evin''s side though, didn''t seem to look offended, surprisingly. Evin didn''t know why, but it was a godsend to him. Unknown to Evin, Arza was too busy thinking about the free punches that Evin gifted him, so he couldn''t quite hear the young noble.


    "My deepest apologies to the young master, but these people are also guests of the North. How can I have the shamelessness to make them work for my humble Customs house?" Purzo said with some well-hidden disdain.


    "MY NOBLE LAYMONT HOUSE SHOULD NOT BE PUT IN THE SAME LEVEL AS MERE COMMONERS!" the boy shouted suddenly.


    ''Empress almighty, calm down,'' Evin was startled with the sudden shout. He did not know where was this Laymont family or what they did, but they should be located quite far from the capital, considering they were traveling by carriage, instead of just teleporting to their destination.


    "Sorry for my ignorance, but please enlighten this lowlymoner about the history of your noble family," Evin asked in a polite tone.

 Chapter 67: Political scene

    Chapter 67: Political scene


    Evin knew that the political scene was like a spider web that spanned the entirety of the kingdom. If you poke at one weak noble, thinking that there were no consequences, some bigshot from the Capital mighte knocking on your door the next week.


    It was aplicated system that demanded the attention of whoever wanted to enter it. Evin was still very green in this field and there were a lot of details that he didn''t know about. But he at least knew that he shouldn''t offend the Arcwall family in the capital and the four Dukes of the kingdom. The four Dukes were assigned to the four corners of the kingdom, with the Earl''s family in Smallwall town falling under the wings of Duchess vd.


    The Duchess of the North was a woman of renown during her time. An extremely powerful World of Water mage who started as a meremoner, but rose spectacrly to the seat of a Duke after she received the title of a Baroness after bing a mage. Most of her achievements were from the Southern campaign and in a span of 20 years, she managed to tightly grasp her standing inside the Kingdom.


    The kingdom awarded their loyal contributors without holding back, and the patriotism and enthusiasm vd showed far surpassed the previous duke. One who was falling into stagnancy and lethargy, because of the peaceful atmosphere of the North-West.


    If Evin had to rank the strongest dukes of the kingdom, he would put the Southern Duke in the highest position, and then Duchess vd in second ce. The Dukes of East and West were more focused on infrastructure and economy rather than battle, so they would both enjoy the twost ces.


    Evin guessed that the boy''s family also hailed from under the Duchess'' rule. The boy looked at Evin with evident disgust. But he didn''t hurry to shoo themoner away, since Evin wore clothes that were obviously not for normalmoners. Some of the materials of clothing were only reserved for mages and nobles, so the boy could tell that he was talking to at least a mage.


    "Who do you think you are, one so shameless to talk directly with me?"


    "I am but a humble mage, willing to dedicate my everything to the kingdom. I hail from thends under Earl Borna to visit the Northern Tribes and receive my Ivari Horn. Unfortunately, my life was too poor before I was hailed as a mage, so I couldn''t find the time to learn of all the Noble families in the kingdom. I ask young master to be the one to start this dyed journey of mine, by imparting me with the glory of your family," Evin said with reverence.


    He didn''t really care about what he was saying, he just wanted the boy to feel superior. As for getting his pride hurt by this lowly way of speaking Evin''s moments of shame in his previous life greatly exceeded whatever he did in Alvox. A small matter like bootlicking wasn''t worth mentioning.


    "Hmph, at least you''ve learned to tter your betters. Very well, I shall tell you. My Laymont house is under the rule of Marquess Olmar Laymont and I am his eldest son, Parvan Laymont," the boy dered.


    "Would young master be kind enough to exin to this lowlymoner the name of yournd? I''m afraid I''m still quite uneducated in the field of nobility," Evin asked amiably.


    "Our family is tasked with safeguarding the North-Westernmost area of the kingdom from foul beasts and possible enemies from the sea. Wee from the county of Morsik," the boy said proudly.


    Hearing the location, Evin sneered inwardly.


    ''What foul beasts? Sharks and octopuses? What enemies from the sea? Lost fishermen from the North?''


    The spot was the safest spot in the entirety of the kingdom. The area was rich with resources and blessed with peace. The violent storms surrounding its beaches made it hell for boats to navigate, so no idiot would decide to invade the Kingdom from that side. It was also an area that was closed off by nature, only connected with three great tunnels that were drilled into the mountains surrounding it. Evin guessed that the ce was designated as an emergency escape route for the Royal family if the Kingdom ever fell to chaos.


    But more importantly, the Duchess would absolutely hate whoever ruled there. Evin knew that the Duchess actively sought out mages from her territory of control to send them towards the South for battle. Evin didn''t know what she was nning, but it was obvious that she preferred stronger citizens over the weaker ones. She would definitely not enjoy a certain group of people who lived a life without worry in one of the corners of the Western Kingdom.


    And even though the Marquess'' title was one level greater than Earl Borna, it was basically a joke title for the ones that didn''t live in the South. A marquess was effectively an Earl in charge of border areas. In the Southern border, only the most dependent leaders were sent. The responsibilities were sky-high due to the war, but the rewards were enough to keep those hardworking Marquesses of the South content and loyal enough.


    But for the Marquesses of the other regions, especially for the ones on the Western side of the kingdom, it was just an empty title, no better than a normal Earl.


    But the most important factor was the Duchess. She should not like the Laymont family. It wasn''t a guarantee, but it was very likely. And since Earl Borna was on the same level as Marquess Laymont, it shouldn''t affect Evin too much, if he somehow represented the Earl in one way or another.


    Evin also guessed that the Earl should not like the Marquess that much. Judging from Parvan, the Marquess'' family did not seem to respectmoners so well. But the Earl was more tolerant towardsmoners, or at least magemoners, since he was quite ready to marry Beyn to Evin.


    Evin could happily teach this boy a lesson if he ever decides to mess with him. The problem was the mage who was guarding the boy, but he shouldn''t be stronger than Rith.


    ''No Marquess would send a goddamn Lesser-Imposer to guard a boy on his journey to the North. I''m pretty sure that Lesser-Imposers were only avable for Dukes or the king himself to send in the first ce,'' Evin reasoned.


    "This lowly one thanks young master of Marquis Laymont for the educating experience. I hope you will have a pleasant journey ahead," Evin said. He knew he had a backing strong enough to not fear the boy, but he didn''t bother bullying him.


    But he had to probe the boy''s background first, or else he could find himself dead outside his doormat. Besides, the boy was still a child. Just look at him screaming at the top of his lungs after seeing a bunch of travelers on a stair like some overexcited puppy. It wasn''t the boy''s fault that he grew up like this.


    "What''s your business here in the first ce? Weren''t you the people who were climbing ahead of us in the morning?" the boy asked inquisitively.


    "My grandfather, Ssatsko, is a Northerner, as you can see. And he seems to be friends with the Customs House guard, Purzo. They''ve been catching up on old times," Evin replied.


    "Is that so, well, I wish your group good travels as well," the boy smiled. A hint of something warm filled the boy''s cheeks and his natural sneer started to look a bit better.


    The boy did not seem too overbearing when Evin talked to him in a way that he was used to. When he first entered the building and noticed that none of the strangers showered him with attention like he was used to, he supposedly took the matter into his hands.


    ''It''s actually kind of cute,'' Evin realized, after thinking about the matter a bit.

 Chapter 68: Inevitable

    Chapter 68: Inevitable


    "What''s with that cat of yours? Why do you carry it around when you''re traveling?" but a little whileter, Parvan came to bother Evin again.


    "It''s not a cat, first of all. It''s a Cosmic Feline and her name is Rith," Evin introduced.


    "Nice to meet you, young master of the Laymont family," Rith introduced herself.


    Evin noticed that she preferred to take whatever approach Evin took. If Evin acted polite, she would act simrly, but if Evin acted aloof, she wouldn''t give two fucks. Evin guessed that it had to do something with the monitoring.


    "What? Aren''t they supposed to have a dark body with various colored stars littered all over their bodies?"


    "That''s her true form that she would take in the World of Space. She uses this normal cat look to wander in the main World," Evin exined.


    "Hey, why don''t you follow me around? Why do you associate yourself with thismoner, instead of me?" Parvan said with a tone full of jealousy.


    ''Oh no he''s doing the arrogant young master act. Don''t! You were so cute before!'' Evin thought with worry.


    "What can you offer me, though? You must know that us Cosmics take profits above everything," Rith taunted.


    "I''ll let you get 30 gold every month if you decide to apany me," The boy said.


    The surrounding servants looked at the boy worriedly, but did not have the heart to tell him off.


    "A measly amount," Rith said without care.


    "Then why do you spend your time with themoner boy?! Do you wish to tell me that he offers you more?!" the boy bellowed in rage.


    "Of course. I told you, the Cosmics talk profit. Don''t think we obey some country bumpkins with a few bags of gold," Rith said spitefully. Evin didn''t know why she was so gung-ho all of a sudden.


    ''Maybe she was offended by the amount of gold offered?'' he thought inwardly.


    "What did you say?! Then how much does themoner offer you then? You wish to tell me that he stumbled upon a Lodestone mine or something?"


    "He offered our group some information. Using it, our group made money. The boy asked us to teach him our magic. But for that, we need to monitor him and see if he''s worthy, you see?" Rith exined in a monotone way.


    "Worthy?! I''ll show you worthy! Boy! I challenge you to a duel! If you lose, I will have that Cosmic for myself! Judging by how you dress, you must be a mage of some sort, right?!" Parvan shouted angrily at Evin.


    ''Oh no, he''s going down that path, anyway. I was too foolish to hope to stop the inevitable,'' Evinmented.


    "I''m afraid I don-"


    "Sure, why not?" Evin wanted to refuse, but was cut off by Rith.


    "Then it is settled. Come outside with me!" noble the boy said imposingly.


    Evin walked towards Rith and asked what her n was.


    "I just wanted to give you a little challenge. That boy is a quarter-core from what I can feel. You''re practically unrivaled in the beginner stage of magehood, but you''ve never fought a quarter-core before," Rith exined.


    "What about those Easterners?"


    Evin technically fought shin, and he was a quarter-core and he found it quite underwhelming to be honest.


    "That talent-crippled man does not count as a proper quarter-core. And rx, even if you lose, I''ll run away ande back to youter," Rith reassured Evin with a smirk. Evin did reckon that Rith wouldn''t be able to stay for too long beside the noble boy. He agreed to go with Rith''s setup and fight Parvan.


    "I hope you can take care of the guard if he decides to make a move," Evin reminded before going outside.


    An audience formed outside the Customs house, and the two fighters were getting ready to fight. Evin had to swallow a World chameleon skin, so his opponent couldn''t see which Worlds he was absorbing. The noble boy also gulped down the same item with some difficulty.


    Evin didn''t really know what to expect from the boy, since Rith hyped up the fight quite greatly. He woke up Karan from his slumber and asked him to turn into a blunted short sword and some armor that covered Evin''s vitals. After discovering the coziness of Evin''s shadow, the metal skinshifter would opt to spend most of his time sleeping inside it alongside the World Sprites.


    He asked him to not transform into anything different, since Evin didn''t want to spark the boy''s jealousy even more. Evin was used to the metal-skinshifter moving about to protect his body, so he was quite worried too.


    He then thought of an idea. He controlled the shadows that were surrounding his body and used them to cover Karan''s metal surfaces. This way, if he covered himself in shadows as well, Karan''s movements wouldn''t be that noticeable.


    [How do you feel?] Evin asked Karan.


    [It feels like a toned-down version of how the inside of your shadow feels,] Karan replied.


    The noble boy, looking at Evin covering himself in shadows was sneering inside. He approached an area that was designated as the fighting spot and dered in his loud voice.


    "A single fight until one of us surrenders. If I win, the Cosmic will follow me on my journey"


    "What will I get if you lose? I don''t want to fight a profitless fight," Evin asked.


    "A lowlymoner dares ask forpensation? You will get to witness my greatness personally, what elsepensation do you want?" the boy snarled.


    "I can''t believe the noble heir of the Laymont family would be such a coward. For whatever reason, if I lose I have to give someone I treasure to you, but you don''t even have the courage to offer something of your own in return," Evin taunted.


    "I am not a coward! Tell you what. If you manage to win this fight, I will let you pick one thing from my possession. How about that?"


    "An object for a life? If I challenged you to a fight and asked for your guard, would you demand an object I return? But I understand that I can''t ask for someone on your group, so I can settle with three of your possessions," Evin offered.


    "Fine! A weakling like you will not be able to win in the first ce. If a possible reward entices you so greatly, I don''t mind going along," Pan agreed.


    "Swear on your Oath. I will do so as well," Evin said. When he said it, the Oath inside his body clutched his heart with moderate force. It didn''t like the fact that Evin wantonly dered its name in front of all thesemoner servants.


    "Are you joking? For such a small matter you would have me swear on that?" the boy looked fearful.


    Evin found out about a few uses of the Oath. You could make a promise on its name and it would act as a witness to your Oath. If you failed to uphold your promise, it would start tormenting you from inside.


    "You seem to be hesitant. I suppose you nned to go back on your word in case something unfortunate happened. I''m afraid I will have to refuse your challenge"


    "Fine. I will do it. Let no one in this kingdom say that Parvan Laymont goes back on his words. I, Parvan Laymont, promise in the name of my Oath that I will let Who are you again?"


    "Eviendra of Smallwall town," Evin replied, stifling a chuckle.


    "I, Parvan Laymont, promise in the name of my Oath that I will let Eviendra of Smallwall town to pick any three of my possessions if I lose this duel against him," the boy dered. Instantly, his expression turned into one of fear and worry. The Oath inside the boy tightly coiled around his heart, without really applying pressure.


    Evin was just bullying the child at this point.


    "I, Eviendra of Smallwall town, promise in the name of my Oath that I will let Parvan Laymont take my Cosmicpanion if I lose this duel," Evin shouted as well.


    The preparationsplete, the two''s duel was about to start.

 Chapter 69: Parvans equipment

    Chapter 69: Parvan''s equipment


    Evin was armored and equipped with a blunted short sword, while Parvan wore light armor and bore a simrly blunted dagger. On his hand was something akin to a wand. Evin guessed that it was a Channeling Artifact, but unlike Beyn''s overpowered artifact that donned 12 different colors, the boy''s wand only had two colors on it, white and beige. They were the colors of Light and Earth. Although useless to Evin, it was still a great boon if he managed to obtain it from the boy.


    Evin absorbed the Various World''s energies, most of them being from the Dark World, Heavy World and the World of Storms. A hint of red and a hint of silver would also be visible if the enemy could see his hue.


    His motivation sky high due to his greed, Evin made the first move of the fight. Evin started the fight like he did every other fight, with probing illusions. His illusion got closer to the building''s walls and disappeared inside it, while Evin himself silently walked towards the boy, covered in shadows.


    Parvan''s eyes briefly followed the illusion, but a silver light started shining inside his shirt. The boy seemed to realize something and hurriedly cast a spell that dispels illusions on him. He then saw his enemy silently walking towards him and prepared to cast a Luminous World spell at Evin, judging by the pure white energying from his arms.


    ''A illusion detecting artifact. I should fight more arrogant young masters, if I trick them into betting some items before the fight, who knows how easily I could get rich?'' Evin smirked with greed and applied some shadows to his eyes didn''t get blinded with the Luminous spell. He could''ve avoided the spell, but he wanted to try out a quarter-core mage''s power. Besides, the Luminous World did not hurt its target that heavily, at least at these levels, so it was the perfect spell to test Parvan''s powers.


    When the light fell on Evin''s body, he didn''t really feel anything unpleasant, but the World Sprites and the blood inside his body started panicking greatly.


    ''Its just light, it won''t hurt you!'' Evin shouted inwardly and calmed the guests inside his shadow. It was a bit of a sudden thing, but the World Sprites trusted Evin, so they calmed down without much trouble.


    He got a rough estimate on how strong his opponent was thanks to the blinding spell. If hepared its firepower to Arza, it was actually two to three times stronger. Evin guessed that Parvan''s mana storing capacity was about 3 kgs worth of lodestones. It meant that the boy was not a new advanced quarter-core, since new ones would only be able to use 1-2 kgs at most.


    He had little trouble navigating in the bright light, since he protected his eyes quite effectively with his shadow. But obviously, the purpose of a Light spell was to create a distraction so a mage could use another more obvious and direct spell. The enemy was already sending some rock pellets towards his body. Evin could tell that they were much sharper and faster than the rocks that the Easterner mages threw at him back in the forest.


    Evin dodge those quite easily and started floating towards Parvan. Judging from the boy fought, he did not like closebat, so Evin''s objective became closing the distance. He could exchange some ranged spells with the boy, but Evin was the type of person who like to do whatever his opponents didn''t want him to do.


    ''I would prefer to fight Arza at a distance, since the boy had trouble closing distances, but if I find an enemy that liked to keep their distance, I would do everything in my powers to close the distance,'' Evin smirked with glee.


    Parvan noticed that his enemy was flying towards him at high speed, so he created two rectangr walls made of Earth to block the way. Unlike Be''s brittle wall of Earth, these ones were much sturdier, and it also had a horizontal gap between them so Parvan could keep his visual on the target.


    It was simr to the stone wall that Evin created when he was being attacked by Norna''s men.


    Evin smiled and quickly flew upwards into a blind spot. He noticed that the walls started to move upwards to follow him, but since he didn''t want to give the enemy visual, he sharply increased his speed and appeared on top of the wall.


    Instead of the surprised face of the young noble boy he expected to see, he was met with a hail of pellets flying straight towards his face. Parvan obviously guessed that Evin would increase his speed to surprise him, when Evin realized that the wall was moving upwards to follow.


    "Fuck!"


    Evin cursed and flew downwards, and tanked the few pellets thanks to Karan. He threw air bullets towards the boy to distract him slightly and disguised himself into the shadows of the artificial Earth Wall his enemy made. With the assistance of the World Sprites, he was nigh invisible in an area without light. And immediately, he flew towards the shadow that the Earth wall was creating on the ground.


    Parvan dispelled his wall and madly sent bullets towards where Evin disappeared, but he couldn''t get a single hit, and was forced to cancel his onught and use the Luminous World. Half a secondter, white energy gathered on his hands as he prepared to shoot it around himself But a sudden blue me that flew towards him out of thin air on his side disrupted him and he was forced to dodge it. His Illusion detecting artifact did not activate, so he knew that the blue me was real.


    But just as he dodged, a kick from under him surprised him once more.


    The way a Channeling Artifact worked was very simr to a battery. It simply stored as much World energies in it, and a mage could ess it with just a thought. But the mage couldn''t take more energy than his core could handle. And there was still a slight dy when the mage decided to recharge himself with the Worlds'' energies with the stockpile inside the Channeling Artifact. But it was obviously much faster than taking the energy from the Worlds directly.


    For example, it would take Evin two seconds to replenish the mana inside his core, while Parvan would only need half a second. Even more if Evin needed to recharge on different World energies.


    Since Evin''s mana inside his core was drying out, he immediately used the remainder of his stocked energy to create a distraction with the World of Fire and dashed to Parvan''s side and forced him into a melee battle. He had no mana left inside his core, which was a bit worrying, but he nheless seeded in his goal.


    Evin did not dare hold back and viciously attacked Parvan''s guts with the blunted Karan. The pain inflicted upon the noble boy was so great; the boy lurched uncontrobly, letting Evin elbow the poor child on the back and hit the boy''s outer thigh, crippling his movement. Evin wanted to continue his onught, but a pinkish hue engulfed Parvan in a split second, after which the noble boy used every mana his core could handle to create a small wall made of pellets around himself. He indiscriminately pushed away every pellet away from himself, with no regard to the surrounding people.


    Some pellets flew towards Evin''s group, but Rith took care of the situation quite easily with her portals. The guard assigned to protect the boy raised a wall of water to protect Parvan''s servants. Purzo watched as the pellets brutally assaulted his Customs house, but he could only watch with a grieving heart.


    ''Fuck, I need to create distance, but I''ll never outrun those pellets! And I''m clean out of energy, so I can''t jump into my shadow'' Evin thought with panic.


    [Karan! Widen yourself and block my vitals!] Evin shouted inside his head.


    It was a bit risky, but Karan was still covered in his shadows, so the onlookers would think that Evin used a wall of shadow to block the attack.


    Some of the pellets still hit him, heavily bruising Evin''s limbs, but it wasn''t enough to take Evin out ofmission.


    Parvan, seeing that the enemy hadn''t been blown away, immediately stocked up on Earth energy again and repeatedly cast the same spell.


    Using this moment, Evin recharged his mana core to the brim. He didn''t have enough time to cycle through every World, before the next row of attack from Parvan came, so he was only able to stock up on Dark Energy. Right before the next wave of pellets came, Evin jumped into his shadow and quickly scurried into the shadows of the building. He could finally get a moment of respite.


    "I hope this works," Evin thought before trying something with a serious face.

 Chapter 70: Battles conclusion

    Chapter 70: Battle''s conclusion


    Parvan, on the other hand, was not faring well. It was the first time he was hit so hard on his body, so the pain of getting battered with a blunted steel sword was very unfamiliar to the boy. If not for the Inscription on his body that healed his bruised body and gave him some vitality, the fight would''ve been over then and there.


    Using the precious few seconds he earned thanks to the Inscribed spell, Parvan used all the energy he could handle to create distance between his enemy.


    It didn''t work the first time, as Evin used some shadowy metal to block the array of pellets that came his way. Panicked and scared, Parvan immediately used another spell that required the same amount of energy before his mana-core could properly cool down. He had overworked his mana-core and his heart and body were aching like he just ran up the Third Cataract in one breath, as he painfully held his chest in his hands.


    Not only that, his enemy that he gave his all to eliminate disappeared from his sight abruptly. It was like the boy dived into the ground. The fear of the sudden attack that put him in this state came back to haunt him as his eyes darted around the ground in search of the foe.


    Evin, on the other hand, was shouting with excitement inside his shadow. He wanted to try to see if he could replenish his mana-core inside his shadow, and it turned out to be possible. His shadow was like a second home to him, and he could do anything he wanted here.


    He released some of the Dark energy and healed his wounds with the World of Life. He then stocked up on the energies of other Worlds that he used frequently in a fight.


    "I''m ready for round two!" he dered and nced at the outside world from his shadow, to find a good opportunity to strike. But what he found was a gasping Parvan, madly looking around the ground in panic.


    Evin saw the noble boy and realized that thetter overworked his core without waiting for the cooldown period to finish. The same thing had happened to himself when he was trying out the limits of his mana-core after all. Aside from the debilitating fatigue, the boy wouldn''t be able to properly cast spells as well. With this, victory was all in Evin''s hands.


    Evin jumped out of his shadow and walked towards the noble boy in an threatening manner. Seeing Evin, Parvan tried to send pellets at Evin''s way, but a sharp pain from his core disrupted his casting and he fumbled the spell.


    "You''ve lost the duel, ept your defeat," Evin said imposingly. His vignt nature all but gone with the taste of victory so close to his mouth.


    What Evin did not expect was for Parvan to scream maniacally and pull out a scroll from his body. The scroll shone a brilliant white, hinting at the immense Luminous World spell that was about to be sent.


    ''Oh fuck, I need to get away!''


    Evin instantly panicked since he had no idea what the scroll did. It could be a spell from a half-core mage, and Evin didn''t want to try out the power of half-cores with his body yet. He remembered how easily Rith killed those mages with her portals, and from that point on, he gradually stopped arguing with the Feline that much.


    He wanted to hide inside his shadow again, but the Luminous nature of the spell made Evin hesitant to consult the Dark World. He flew towards Rith at maximum speed and saw that the Feline had opened a portal for him to use already.


    Evin entered the portal without hesitation and appeared on Rith''s side. He looked back at Parvan, but saw the noble''s guard grasping his hands tightly, forcing the boy to cancel his activation of the scroll.


    "You''ve lost the fight and three treasures alongside it! Don''t lose the fourth one!" the man shouted loudly.


    "Brother! No!" Parvan bellowed, but the man did not give him the chance to retaliate and swiftly pped the boy on the cheek.


    ''Brother? Didn''t he say he was the eldest son from his father?'' Evin pondered.


    Receiving the p from his brother, Parvan''s eyes teared up, and he started crying without care. The servants went on tofort the child, while Parvan''s brother shook his head and took the wand and ne from the boy''s possession and walked towards Evin.


    "Greetings to Cosmic Rith, I''m afraid I don''t know your full title, so I hope you''ll forgive my rudeness. My name is Hector Laymont, and I''m an adopted son of Marquess Olvar," the man introduced himself.


    ''Ah, he''s adopted. That exins a lot of things,'' Evin thought. Marquess Olmar was likely one who had difficulty conceiving a child. Hector was his back-up n, but Parvan was born, taking all the attention on himself. As the sole heir of a Marquess, Parvan would receive all the attention he could receive, turning him into a prideful and arrogant young master.


    Evin became interested in the story of these two and looked intently at Hector.


    Getting a closer look at the man, Evin noticed that he was quite handsome. With a straight and broad back, plus a well-defined face with a sharp jawline, the man could be defined as a chad. His transparent single horn was leveled like a gazelle, protruding upwards stylishly. Definitely looked better than the ram-shaped one that Ssatsko and Purzo had.


    "Greetings to young master Hector. My name is Solraheeth Ritven, but I don''t mind you being more casual with me. I''d like to thank you for stopping your little brother from using that scroll," Rith expressed her thanks.


    "I''m quite impressed with your student. Not many kids could fight like him at such an age," Hector praised Evin.


    "I''m a Child of the Empress," Evin dered, so he could avoid the unnecessary attention.


    "Ah"


    An acknowledging sound came from the man. Learning that someone outstanding was actually a Child of the Empress was quite a betraying feeling. It felt like finding about how someone that you admired simply cheated his way to his current position.


    Evin didn''t mind the betrayed look that much, since he couldn''t expect everyone to be sympathetic with him. Not to mention that Hector was aplete stranger to him as well.


    "As my brother has promised, I will let you pick three items from his possession. But to save you the time from ransacking through them, I offer you this Channeling artifact and this Ne of Knowing, which helps a mage learn that he is in an illusion. It doesn''t show what the illusion is exactly, but it is quite useful nheless. As for the third item I''m sure you were interested in the scroll that Parvan was about to use, but I''m afraid that it''s a blood-bound spell only for the use of my brother. Instead, I offer you this scroll. It contains a World of Storms spell that I personally imbued. The effects are as follows," Hector went on to exin theplex spell.


    It was basically Evin''s floating spell, but with a bunch ofplex buffs added on top of it. It made it so that the user''s body would be much sturdier while he flew, allowing him to move much faster without even feeling the air resistance against his body.


    It was one of the problems Evin faced with his current floating spell, but couldn''t quite solve as of yet. Evin realized could consciously move the air away from himself, or use the World of Life to strengthen his skin and other surface organs. Since he was only a beginner level mage, he simply didn''t have the capacity to do so.


    The recement gift was a bit underwhelming, since even Rith seemed to be afraid of the Luminous spell that was stored inside Parvan''s scroll. But Evin reckoned that he could use it when he wanted to escape somewhere or needed to maneuver inside a tricky environment. Also, Evin could inspect the spell when he used it to get some hints on how to best recreate it.

 Chapter 71: The City of Smog

    Chapter 71: The City of Smog


    "Thanks for taking the loss so well," Evin told Hector after receiving the gifts.


    "Parvan needs to feel some losses. A fight like this one was inevitable with the way he conducted himself," the broad-shouldered man shrugged.


    Evin agreed with the man. It was a matter of time before the boy''s arrogance took the best of him, resulting in a fight he couldn''t win.


    ''I thank the Empress that I was the first one, allowing me to achieve such great treasures'' Evin prayed inside his head.


    Evin nced at the wailing noble boy and shook his head with a vague smile.


    Hector said his goodbyes and went to Purzo to help with the Customs house''s renovations. For mages, building and fixing things were quite easy, so the rotund man''s house was back to normal in no time.


    "Do you know what was in that scroll Parvan was about to use?" Evin asked Rith with sudden curiosity.


    "It''s something that borders on forbidden. It''s a spell that emits invisible light that can burn your skin off your flesh if you stay inside it for too much. They also say that it can affect your general health in a terrible way, but there isn''t much research on it. It is one of the methods a Luminous mage can use to hurt their enemies. But don''t worry, the scroll is quite rare and mages that can use it are even rarer than the scrolls," Rith exined.


    ''Ultraviolet radiation? But doesn''t that take like hours to properly affect its victims? Much less burning someone''s skin off their flesh, it would at worst give you a small burn'' Evin''s only guess at an invisible light that can burn someone were UV lights. But the severity of its effect was much stronger in the spell,pared to normal UV radiation.


    ''Oh, willpower can take care of thecking powers,'' Evin concluded.


    Evin kept forgetting that even though magic in this World was based on science, it wasn''t actually bound by the rules of physics. Evin wondered what he could do with the Dark World in the future.


    ''Perhaps I could follow the footsteps of the other distinguished users of the World? Maybe develop a Devouring Darkness like the Pale Knight or a Purifying one like that one mage from the North defected to the South?


    Evin decided to think about the matter much more deeply on the road. Also, the horns that would appear on his head would also decide which Worlds he should focus on. Channeling a World with and without a corresponding horn had huge differences.


    Not to mention that he had to learn the World of Space from the Cosmics in the future. Evin could probably make do with Rith taking care of all his teleportation and storage needs, but Evin saw how powerful the World of Space was when Rith fought with those Easterners. He wanted to be able to do those things himself.


    There was also the problem of his immortality and the time limit that Two Tales put him on. Before he reached 15, he had to find a way to reduce the emotional effects that the Worlds had on him. Evin remembered how hard it was to simply be imbued with the energy of a World when he first tried out the Worlds. The Heavy World practically made him insane just by being inside of it.


    Evin sighed and decided to approach things one by one. His first objective being the Horn Ceremony. But that was far in the future, so Evin decided to focus on the Dark World after experimenting around with his spoils of battle for a while.


    Since Arza could use the Luminous World quite efficiently, Evin decided to give the wand to him.


    ''I''ll keep the Ne of Knowing to myself, and when I reach the quarter-core stage, I''ll try to improve my floating capabilities using the scroll as a base. Hopefully, I would have learned enough to decipher scrolls by then,'' Evin concluded.


    Ssatsko had finished talking with his friend, so the group was ready to continue their journey. Rith got out the carriage and horses out of her storage dimension and the group bade farewell to Hector''s caravan. Hector had to wait for other horses to be delivered, since they let the previous one go free.


    A few days passed after that, and Evin spent most of his time practicing his magic. This time Arza was driving the carriage, so Evin had much more free timepared to the past. He would exin to Arza some of the contents of the book at night and then have a little spar, but mostly he would be bettering his methods.


    He tried out some applications of the Dark World that he could think of, but his mana-core would usuallyck the capacity to make his imagination a reality. But he did manage to polish his other spells as much as he could. He could now control his shadow like he was controlling his arms, he could enter it without any dy and he could influence the shadows in his surroundings much better.


    If he had to fight in an area that was half light and half shadows, he could practically turn the whole areapletely dark. Especially if the shadows were scattered about. Evin realized that his fighting style was gradually tilting towards the uses of darkness, so he was even thinking of purchasing a simple scroll or an engraved item that created shadows in an area so he doesn''t have to worry about these things in the first ce. Evin didn''t know how applicable or cost-effective it would be, but he would definitely try it out.


    Evin''s financial situation was thriving anyway, even without him doing anything. He had about 40000 golden coins in his savings ount that was identical to the one that Beyn got, so he could cash out big time when he turned 12. He had about 2000 coins for daily usage, so perhaps he could use some of it to buy some magical equipment.


    He also received a letter from the coffee shop owner in Tower city. Rith would sometimes give him a letter from the shop owner or a financial statement of the shop. Evin actually didn''t receive any more project ns from the Cosmics after two years, but he guessed that the Cosmics wanted to see if his suggestions were true or not.


    Evin didn''t know this, but the Cosmics invested in every project that they sent to Evin, except of course the coffee shop business that Evin personally took over. They wanted to see if Evin''s suggestions would y out the way he exined.


    But that was a story for another time.


    Evin owned half of a coffee shop in Tower City. Sadly, the coffee shop wasn''t working that well, since the taste of coffee wasn''t yet popr at this time. When he was first bing the investor of the shop, Evin sent a list of recipes that were poprly used with coffee on Earth. But since they were mostly just various additions of milk, sugar and chocte, the owner sent back a passionate rejection letter, writing about stuff like keeping the spirit of coffee pure and whatnot.


    But after working for two years, the shop was practically losing money, so the coffee shop owner finally relented to Evin''s suggestion and was working on adding new recipes to the shop. Even the most passionate of people would lose their spirit when every day felt like an uphill battle. The guilt of running an unprofitable business with the money of others, the mockery of his rivals and the scoldings from his wife forced the shop owner to relent to reality.


    The shop owner was actually quite grateful to this unknown Northern investor. He never met Evin in real life, so at first he just assumed the investor to be some pompous bigshot in the North who had some connections with the Cosmics.


    The man even had the gall to send a bunch of expensive and unhealthy recipes to them right after bing the investor. Obviously the man rejected the proposed recipes but even when the shop was losing money, the investor didn''t seem to mind and kept sending money. The unknown investor didn''t even pressure the owner for returns. With that, the shop owner''s heart was moved, and he informed the investor that he decided to try out the various recipes the investor proposed.


    Evin was, naturally, oblivious to these developments. But since the shop owner decided to implement his ideas, he should start seeing some more sess in the future.


    Just like this, Evin''s days passed peacefully on the road. Evin did not meet any other travelers or vigers, since Ssatsko was not traveling on the road. He didn''t need to since Evin could make the carriage light and just go over rivers or valleys. And after two weeks of travel from the Customs house, Evin saw the silhouette of a gigantic city, surrounded by a wide river. Trails of smoke rose from the city''s insides, creating a scene that reminded Evin of some anti-pollution posters from Earth, depicting a factory with smoke trailing off its top.


    The walls of the city were tall and imposing, but a closer look showed Evin that it was worn and used. Cracks and ck spots created from constant emission of smoke decorated the city''s walls, a clear indication that life inside the town wasn''t asfortable as one would imagine.


    "Wee to the City of Smog," Ssatsko introduced.

 Chapter 72: Bella

    Chapter 72: Be


    In a luxurious room of arge mansion, a small girl wailed on her bed. The girl''s weeping seemed clumsy and false. There was no one else in the room, no one listening from outside the door, but the girl continued crying alone, without wishing to stop.


    If someone else saw the girl, they would want to say that the girl was just throwing a tantrum, that she was not crying for real. But something about the weeping girl would give the onlooker a nagging feeling that it was all real. That the emotions the girl wanted to express were real, just that the girl didn''t know how to express them. The girl knew that she should weep, that she deserved to weep, and she was trying to But it just wasn''t working.


    Her cries were fake, and her tears were forced. The girl stopped crying. She promised herself it would herst time crying, herst time mourning.


    She would start everything anew after this day, and she would forget the promise she made to her mother. She would take a different approach to things. She didn''t have to shoulder this burden silently and obediently. She would fight back from this day on and put her sisters at their ces. To hell with harmony.


    ''Why did I be a mage if all I ever get is just constant hate and istion?'' she thought with determination.


    "Put those bitches at their ces and receive the respect you deserve!" the girl dered to hype herself up.


    She wiped her tears and fixed her dress. She walked opened her room''s door and made way towards her destination. Her steps were precise and her posture was perfect. Nothing less was expected from her, and nothing less was eptable for others.


    Oh, how she wanted to walk and speak freely. An image of a dark-haired boy joking around with a cat and another red-haired child shed through her mind. Oh, how she was jealous of that boy.


    Strong, smart, and most importantly free. Compared to him, her own life was like a beautiful web made of rotting lies.


    Beyn Borna believed that her life was one of false perfection.


    As the girl walked, she thought about thest moments of her mother. The woman was a servant named I under Earl Borna''s rule and after thete wife of the Earl died; she became the earl''s concubine. She couldn''t be his official wife, since she had a criminal record under her name. Beyn didn''t know any of this until she heard it from another old servant.


    I gave birth to Be after a few years, but the birth destroyed her body for some reason, and since then, she was on the verge of life and death. The Earl employed every healing mage he could find, but Be''s mother had a special physique that was conflicting with the World''s energies.


    The doctor exined that it was a rare phenomenon that happened to somemoners when they give birth to a mage. The baby takes away its mother''s connection to the World energies and uses it to form their own mana-core.


    Finding out that the problem was not magical, Velpin Borna searched far and wide formon physicians. In a world where magic could solve practically all your problems, specialists who didn''t use them were like stars in the sky on a fair day.


    But after months of searching, he did manage to find one doctor that did not rely on magic. But sadly, the doctormented that they were toote. Had they found him right after she gave birth, he could''ve saved the woman, but at this point, he could only dy the inevitable. I struggled and struggled and managed to survive for three whole years.


    I''s final words on her deathbed still lingered in the child''s ears.


    "Be, promise me not to use your magic for evil Instead, use it for your family, protect them from harm"


    The girl remembered promising to heed her mother''sst words through sobs and tears ones much more natural than herst attempt at crying.


    Be wanted to sigh, but forced herself to stop, since there were others watching her.


    ''No! I''m finally changing my life and it''s okay for me to sigh or do whatever else I fucking want to express myself freely!'' Be scolded herself inside her mind.


    Be then sighed, but it felt forced and unnatural. Just like the tears and sobs.


    The surrounding servants did not seem to notice her awkward behaviour and continued on with their designated jobs, slowly andzily.


    The fact seemed to anger the little girl even more, and she walked faster to her destination.


    She took the stairs down and pulled out arge iron key from her pockets. She walked towards the dungeons of the mansion. No guards were put here, since there was no one that needed guarding.


    She jingled the key as she walked, humming some tune in her cute little voice. essing the Worlds, she lighted the torches one by one as she progressed.


    "Be? R-release us from this ce this instant! How dare you imprison your own sisters in these d-dark dungeons!" A voice was heard from the depths of the dungeon.


    Be had kidnapped her sisters at midnight and carried them to the mansion''s dungeons. It wasn''t a difficult task, since most of the guards protected the outer perimeters of the ce. And even if there were some guards inside the manor, they would be either sleeping or loitering around, so Be wouldn''t have any problem avoiding with them, even with another girl on her shoulders.


    Be would''ve loved to leave the two for a week at least, but since their disappearance would cause panic inside the mansion, she had toe back to her sisters the next morning at the first sign of dawn.


    There were about three hours before Be could tame her sisters to her will. She had to force them to keep silent about this matter and force them to stay clear of her in the future.


    She approached one of the dungeon''s cells and saw her two sisters hugging each other, shivering. They only wore a thin white dress that they wore when they slept. A night in the cold, damp environment of the dungeon did not seem to fare well for the two.


    "You little bitch! What do you think you''re daring to do!" Arelyn screamed at Be with hate.


    "I''m just putting the trash in its ce. Why did you have to mess with someone stronger than yourself in the first ce?" Be taunted.


    "You think father will allow you to do as you please?" Arelyn shouted and stood up on her feet. She pulled up Olevyn and tried to walk past Be.


    "Where do you think you''re going?" Be stood at their path.


    "Guess, you dumb bitch," Arelyn sneered, but Be couldn''t help but notice the raging heartbeats that echoed inside Arelyn''s heart.


    Be absorbed some World of Life energy and directed a punch at her eldest sister''s gut. Arelyn groaned and fell down to her knees.


    "Where the fuck do you think you''re going?" Be raged, her emotions were starting to get the best of her at this point.


    "Stop! We''ll stop bothering you from now on. We won''t tell anyone about this!" Olevyn begged after seeing her sister get punched like that so suddenly.


    Olevyn was the more timid of the three sisters, but she had sided with her eldest, since they were from the same mother.


    "I have to make sure of that, now don''t I?" Be sneered.


    She lifted up Olevyn and punched her gut once. Olevyn lurched and wanted to fall into a fetal position, but Be didn''t allow her to. She punched once more, for good measure, and let the girl fall to the ground. Her middle sister''s eyes involuntarily teared up, while she held her stomach with a painful face. Be''s body was infused with the World of Life, so her casual punches were like the strikes of a hammer for normal humans.


    "Fucking Freak" Arelyn''s voice sounded in the dungeon chamber.


    "Who told you to mess with me in the first ce? I don''t fucking remember doing anything to you two after I was born!" Be screeched at the girl.


    "You''re just like your mother, two fucking degenerates," Arelyn said with a strained voice.


    Be approached the girl to give her a few more punches, but her eldest sister''s next words stopped her from doing so.


    "Do you know what your mother did?" Arelyn asked tauntingly.


    Be didn''t know anything other than what was told by the servants. How her mother ended up with her father was a mystery to the girl.


    "She seduced our father and killed our mother," Arelyn said with a sneer.


    "Don''t lie to dy your beating," Be shook her head and rubbed her knuckles.


    "Don''t believe me? Then do you know that I was a childhood friend of our mother?"

 Chapter 73: Blind rage

    Chapter 73: Blind rage


    "They were bothmoners, but apparently our mother''s life was just slightly better than yours in their childhood. Not only in their lives, our mother was more talented, more beautiful and more popr than her. So, of course, I got jealous. She robbed a few people and used the money to buy beauty products. Later, someone recognized her when she was trying to buy essories with her ill-earned money. Obviously, she got caught and prosecuted, hence the criminal record on her name," Arelyn started her story.


    Be didn''t know anything about her mother''s past, so she wasn''t in a hurry to dish out the punishment, yet. Her mother''s love for trinkets wasn''t a secret. Even when she was lying ill in her room, she would be wearing one essory or another.


    "Later, our mother was lucky enough to receive the attention of the County Earl''s son. Our father. Their love was like a novel, two young lovers against the world. There were many who opposed such a marriage, mostly from our father''s family, but you mother was among those people as well," Arelyn narrated.


    Be listened silently.


    "Although I couldn''t find how they managed to get married in the end, they did, and had us. You know who came to the mansion following those two? Your mother. Like a leech that just couldn''t deal with reality, she came to the house as a servant and started spreading nder about our mother in the mansion. I then seduced our father, who she didn''t even love that much. Our mother had two children so her beauty already was fading, not to mention that she was pregnant with a third child, so I''s beauty was enough to rope in our useless excuse of a father," Arelyn said, gradually speaking with more and more emotion.


    She got up and started shaking Be with her hands, as the little girl stood still as a statue. She did not want to believe her sister''s story, but the rational part of her mind was connecting the story with her mother''s behavior. Her unnatural obsession, her hate towards thete wife of the Earl, the hate and jealousy that the servants showed towards her.


    "And you know what your whore of a mother did? She fucking poisoned our mother. Waited for our father to leave for a business trip and right as the chance came, she locked our mother in a fucking dungeon cell. Just like her little offspring. And you know what? She shoved poison down her childhood friend''s throat, because why? She couldn''t handle that someone else was doing better than her? Why the fuck didn''t she go poison the Empress, then? I''d think the fucking Empress would be first on her pathetic hate-list!" Arelyn spat out with hatred.


    The stink and saliva from her mouth pervaded Beyn''s face. The little girl frowned subconsciously and shoved Arelyn away.


    "Shut up" Be managed to utter.


    "I saw it all happen. I went to my mother''s room, to give her a little surprise in the morning. But since I couldn''t find her in it, I started searching the mansion. And do you know what I saw? I saw your mother, that disgusting excuse of a human being, walking out of the dungeon cells, h-hurriedly hiding a bottle of something h-her pockets," tears streamed from Arelyn''s eyes uncontrobly. Her voice started shaking and stammering, unable to properly articte the sentence.


    It took a minute for her to calm down, and Be could notice that her sister''s grief was being overrun by her cold wrath.


    "The mansion''s guards started searching for her only in the afternoon. And found her in the dungeons only in the evening. She was dead from poisoning," Arelyn continued in a monotone voice.


    Her sister''s grief pervaded Be, as she started feeling guilt for the things she nned to do.


    "I told father how I found I with a bottle of something walking out of the dungeon cells And you know what his reaction was? He pretended like I never said a thing. Just like he does when we bully you in front of her. A joke, or perhaps some new game, he would tell himself. A few months after that, he got your mother pregnant And you were born," Arelyn let go of Be and kneeled down on the cold stone floor and continued.


    "I can''t stop hating you. I know it wasn''t your fault, but I just can''t. I see you training hard on your magic studies, and truly, I feel envious, but I can''t allow myself to feel such things. Isn''t that exactly how your mother felt when she saw our mother? I can''t help but vent my anger on you. You were the oue of my mother''s death, after all," Arelyn said spitefully.


    "Shut up." Be couldn''t bear to hear no more.


    "You know, you looked so simr to your mother. That look of envy when you nced towards that boy, that Child of the Empress. That obsession... Personally, I can''t wait for the day when you finally go bat-shit insane and try to kill that boy. Knowing that it''s exactly what your mother did," Arelyn smirked and continued.


    "But don''t worry about thatmoner boy, he''s not worthy of you envy. Children of the Empress are nothing but swindlers: they''re just a bunch of old men who happened to be reborn inside a baby''s body," Arelyn revealed.


    "Shut up!" Be picked her sister up and threw her toward the dungeon cell.


    Arelyn groaned from the pain, but she didn''t give in to Beyn''s violence.


    "I can''t believe a bitch like your mother gave birth to a mage. Guess she felt that usingmon methods to rob and kill wasn''t good enough, so she decided to shit out a mage, so it can continue her decrepit legacy," Arelyn said through her tears.


    "SHUT UP!!!" Be screeched and punched Arelyn in the mouth as hard as she could. Arelyn''s small face was ruined in an instant, her jaw dislocated and some of teeth falling from her mouth.


    "Huuuurrrgghgh!"


    A broken wail resounded through the dungeon cells. Arelyn wanted to scream, but her broken jaw did not allow her to make the usual scream. She didn''t expect her sister to actually go to such lengths. She was too used to saying whatever she wanted without any consequences.


    Fear and panic appeared on her face and she hurriedly held her arms in front of her face, shaking.


    "Stho!" she tried to say stop, but Be did not heed her words, instead giving her sister another punch on the guts.


    The sounds of mad violence echoed continuously in the chambers.


    Beyn thrashed madly at her sister. Her eyes were red with wrath, blood flowing from her fists. She wed at her sister, no sign of sanity could be found on her face.


    "Stop! You''re going to kill her!" Olevyn clung onto the little girl and begged her to stop, but was thrown away by the bloodshot Be.


    Hopeless, the middle sister ran outside the dungeon cells to call for help.


    A minuteter, two confused guards came in to dungeon.


    "Stop! Be, stop!" The guards shouted at her, but the girl remained fixated on her sister.


    The two tried to stop Be, but were unable to hold the little girl back. The girl thrashed like the two guards didn''t exist and continued pounding the disfigured figure of her eldest sister.


    "Hit her on the head! Just let her fall unconscious! She''s a mage, she''s going to be fine!" one of them shouted.


    The guards could not think of something else, so they mmed their spear on the little girl''s head. Hit with ck steel on her head, Beyn''s consciousness finally fell into darkness.

 Chapter 74: Hell on surface and heaven underground

    Chapter 74: Hell on surface and heaven underground


    The City of Smog wasn''t a wee ce. The scenery, the people, the smells It all felt like the house of an unkempt man, who just refused to tidy their house, nor themselves up.


    The group''s carriage and horses were stored away by Rith, and they were walking towards the center of the city. Evin asked what they were doing here, but he didn''t get a reply from the old man.


    ''This ce is shit,'' Evin had made his mind about the city in the first hour he walked in it. During this hour, three beggars tried to cling onto him, five people tried to rob him and one kid even tried to steal Rith. The boy''s face when Rith started talking back to him was quite amusing to say the least, but these incidents helped a lot in Evin''s swift disdain for the city.


    Not to mention the cacophony of smells that radiated in the air. It was like a sauna without good venttion and no showers prior. Karanmented how even the sewers of Tower City did not smell as bad as this.


    Rotten garbage filled the streets with rats and dogs fighting over them, with no regard to the humans that surrounded them. Evin saw a few people betting some coins on those random animal fights, cheering and jeering at the dirty animals.


    Some of the guards, ones which Evin thought were supposed to stop these gatherings, had instead joined in on the fun, with one of them threatening another man to pay up the bet.


    Evin saw scenes like these in bars and underground clubs in his previous life, but never in public. But the atmosphere wasn''t unfamiliar to him, so he didn''t take things at face value.


    But Arza, on the other hand, seemed to have trouble keeping his thoughts to himself. The boy was still barely four years old. The situation in the city really did not sit well with the boy''s sense of morals.


    Evin had to keep him in check a few times, since the boy was very prone to start a fight with some people he found Unjust.


    Evin sighed countless times during this walk, but they seemed to finally reach their destination. In front of Evin was a tall, grey castle watchtower.


    "We''re almost there," Ssatsko beckoned the group to follow him into the watchtower.


    The group followed behind mutely. Entering inside, Evin saw many guards that were warily ncing at the group. Ssatsko didn''t seem to mind the attention, and he confidently walked towards a sturdy steel door.


    The guards in front of it motioned the group to stop.


    "Permit," one of them said.


    Ssatsko pulled out a folded paper out of his pockets and handed it over to the guard. Thetter looked at the paper with a scrutinizing gaze and nodded.


    "Enter," the same guard said and opened the door.


    The heavy door opened smoothly, not making a single sound, making Evin genuinely impressed at how well the door was maintained.


    Then, Evin saw a spiral stairway leading downwards behind the door. Ssatsko lead the way and the group followed behind wordlessly. Inside of the stairway was akin to hell for ustrophobic people, with brick walls surrounding you from all sides and a thin pir that somehow supported the whole stairway downwards.


    The group walked for a good five minutes until they finally reached the end of the downward tunnel. Ssatsko opened the door with a slight smirk and a miraculous scene weed the group. The door lead to a tform that showed the entirety of a mystical and magnificent underground city.


    "Wee to the City of Nevernight," Ssatsko introduced


    Underneath the foul excuse of a city lied another city, one much more beautiful and fantastical.


    Veins of shining white metals were lodged into the Earth that towered over it, illuminating the maze of buildings that spanned beneath. Evin could see that they were some kinds of metal that were imbued with the energy from the Luminous World. They did not pulse like mana lodestones, but they certainly shone like them. A look down from the tform showed a river of glowing blue water, running through the City of Nevernight.


    The city itself was much cleaner and more amiable than the one above the ground. Evin couldn''t spot a single broken wall in the entire city, and the denizens inside it looked content and calm. A clear contrast to the above.


    A nce at the residents of the underground city also showed a very colorful scene with some of the poption donning one or two horns of various colors. About one in every eight persons had a horn.


    While he was walking through the City of Smog before, Evin was wondering where were all the infamous Ivari Horn Bearers, since the only Horned individuals he saw aftering to the North were Purzo and Hector.


    None of the residents in the city above had a horn. Evin could guess that receiving a Horn was like an instant upgrade to your life, since the powers they gave you were extremely sought after.


    But it wasn''t the Horn Bearers that surprised Evin the most. Alongside the Ivari were tall individuals with six arms poking out of their sides. Their heads were covered by a mask, but none in the city seemed to mind them that much, expect, of course, Evin and Arza who were rudely looking at them with evident shock.


    "They''re called the Cobfolk, a race that waged a war against the North, back in the day and lost," Ssatsko started narrating.


    ''First ant-people and now spider-people? What''s next?'' Evin thought in his head.


    "But instead of being sent to the South alongside the other losing races, they were allowed to stay in their territory, but the race''s rulers were forced to take an Oath of Loyalty to the North. The race hates the re of the sun, so they mostly dwell in the underground. There are a couple other cities that are this big, but there are a lot of smaller ones as well, most of them the size of a vige," Ssatsko narrated as he walked.


    "Why have wee here?" Evin had to ask.


    "We''ll meet the Cobfolk representative here and you two can receive the Oath of the North. We''ll also visit some shops here. I''m sure you will find many things that would be useful to you," exined Ssatsko.


    The rest of the trip was made in silence, as Evin and Arza were more focused on the miraculous city and its secrets. Evin didn''t know how it was possible, but every part of the streets were illuminated fully with the light from above.


    Ssatsko exined that the glowing metal was natural sorbothium ore veins infused with Luminous energy. Noticing that Evin was staring at the veins greedily, Ssatsko exined how the punishment of taking a piece of the ore is getting your mana-core crippled.


    Evin was rich, but human greed was boundless and insatiable. Looking at the veins of precious metal looming on top of his head was like looking at piles of gold scattered on the ground.


    The group found their way to one of the taller buildings in the City of Nevernight. A g with a heroic depiction of a Cobfolk, with six different kinds of weapons in its arms, could be seen on its walls.


    "What''s that g for?" Evin asked.


    "It''s the g of the Underworld Tribe. One of the Ten Great Tribes of the North. They specialize in the World of Earth," Ssatsko exined. He then went on to talk about the system of tribes to Evin and Arza.


    Compared to the noble system in the West, the Northerners were divided into Tribes, ten most important ones in total. And different tribes had different specializations. It was not hard to guess that the Ten Tribes represented the ten Worlds of magic, with the Heavy World and the World of Time excluded.


    It was simr to the Ten factions in Tower City. They were also divided ording to the Worlds they practiced. And also, simrly to the various smaller organizations in Tower city, there were also many smaller tribes that specialized in very specific things.


    For example, the tribe that Ssatskoes from is the Undying me Tribe, where its practitioners dedicate their lives to the mastery andbination of two Worlds, the World of Fire and the World of Life. One could see how many different tribes could be made if we followed this trend.


    And they all fell under the rule of the Paradra Tribe. The Paradra tribe''s name essentially meant under-dragons, or below-dragons. It was a weird name for a Tribe to have, but if one thought about how strong dragons were in this world, it was quite an ambitious name.


    The Paradra Tribe acted simrly to a unifying government of the other tribes. They took care of organizing and monitoring the other tribes, and they were alsorgely responsible for foreignmunications. They were also responsible for deciding who got sent to the South to do battle with the Colossi and the Griffins. So one could call them the face of the North.


    The most elite of mages and hornedmoners filled its ranks, and it also had the most advanced studies of various Worlds in the North. The highest honor for a Northern mage was to be recruited to the Paradra Tribe, not only that, even mages from other countries of the Empire wished to be part of the Paradra Tribe.


    This was the basic situation in the North that Ssatsko was able to exin, before the group reached the doorsteps of the Cobfolk representative.

 Chapter 75: Kena

    Chapter 75: Kena


    Before entering the chamber, Ssatsko addressed Rith.


    "Miss Rith, I''d have to ask you to stay outside the chambers, as the matters that we will discuss inside the room will most likely involve state secrets"


    "Don''t worry about me, then, I''ll be waiting around here. Though, Evin, please memorize the general urrences in the room and report to me afterwards, not involving the secrets," Rith nodded.


    "Sure," Evin said and followed behind Ssatsko with Aran.


    Karan was considered a non-humanoid, so he could enter without problems. The Oaths inside the others wouldn''t be able to detect him, anyway.


    The old man opened the door to the room without worry.


    "Ah, I''ve been expecting you," a crackling voice weed the three inside. The voice sounded staticky and old, like an 1980s radio, and it gave Evin a nostalgic vibe.


    Evin looked over and saw a tall humanoid wearing a white cloak over his body. His body was crooked slightly, and Evin could see the leg of a cane supporting the man from under the cloak. On the man''s face was a white mask with eight blue eyes. Recing the mouth of the spider was something akin to a transparent rune. It shone when light fell on it in a certain way, but one would not be able to see it quite clearly.


    ''An engraving, perhaps,'' guessed Evin.


    "Thank you for having us, Lord Kena. Here are the Oathtakers," Ssatsko said and pointed towards the two children. Reverence and respect were apparent in the fit old man''s eyes.


    "I''ve been wanting to meet Evin over there, since I heard about him from your letter. When you get as old as me, your interests start to narrow tremendously. I''ve been a mage who pursued the secrets of every World, and I''ve been a soldier who pursued the mastery of all the weapons. But now, I''m content with tending to my botanic collection while asionally browsing some books," Lord Kena said with his calming and crackling voice.


    Evin could notice that the mask somehow changed the old man''s original voice to the one he was hearing now.


    ''Perhaps it works as a microphone. And since the rune is of transparent color, it must use the World of Storms somehow,'' Evin thought.


    [Ugh, something tells me this is going to take a while,]mented Karan from inside Evin''s head.


    Evin didn''t bother replying back and continued listening.


    "But one thing that manages to grasp my attention, even after all this time, are people. Some unique individuals that prove to me again and again, that the World has so much to offer than what you saw in your life, however old you may be. In the first half of my life, I thought that the Empress was all powerful and knowing But the next half, I started to realize that she was not at all that omniscient. The Final Empress did not know all. Perhaps she wanted to at one point, but she did not dare," Kena said, his voice rich and smooth, with some kind of magic pull that gripped the interest of others.


    Evin''s eyes glittered with interest. One thing he learned froming here was that any information that concerned the Empress was worth knowing for Evin. The Final Empress and the Authorities were the biggest hints that Evin had about immortality. He patiently waited for the old Cobfolk to continue.


    "I''d love to share with you this story, but many things bind me from speaking. Unfortunately, knowing some matters, require a price. But it doesn''t mean I can''t direct you towards the truth, or however one would describe the things I learned about," Kena said mysteriously.


    Evin could tell that the man was insinuating a trade.


    "Please, tell me what you wish from me," Evin asked.


    "Come with me. Sorry, Ssatsko, but you go on with the Oath with the other child. I''m afraid I cannot indulge you with the rest of the knowledge. The Oath Stamp is on my table," the old man said nonchntly. Then, turning to Evin, he said, "Leave your metal friend as well"


    Evin took out Karan from his shadow and gave him to Ssatsko.


    Kena nodded and beckoned Evin to follow. They entered a room, one that seemed to be the old man''s study. A towering pile of books stood on one side, while a collection of various nts and flowers stood on the other. Connecting the two subjects was afortable-looking armchair.


    Evin did not expect such a mess from the old man, but did not judge.


    "Sorry for the mess, please sit on the chair over there," Kena said with hospitality.


    Evin did as instructed, and the old man conjured another chair from his space storage and sat on it.


    "Would you tell me what you wished from me?" Evin did not waste time.


    "Nothing much, I just want a peek inside your head. In exchange, I will help you start your journey of discovering the history of the Princess of Denial," the old man said.


    Evin began to hesitate. There were many things that could break the bnce of the World inside Evin''s head. He did not have the extensive knowledge required to create atomic bombs or anything simr, but he did see many things happen when he was wandering the World.


    "If you are afraid of me abusing your knowledge, you shouldn''t worry that much. I am prepared to create a Contract with you. I''ll even sign it on here," Kena said and pulled out a rolled up parchment scroll, tied with a blue ribbon.


    The ribbon looked quite fancy from a distance, giving Evin a feeling of royalty and sovereignty.


    "What''s that?" the boy asked.


    "This is a Velvet Contract," the old man said in a carefree tone.


    ''What?! THE Velvet Contract? The one that the Empressmissions?'' Evin was bbergasted. His mind was a mess.


    ''Even the Kings and Emperors of the World had trouble finding these things, and the old man wanted to use it for an exchange of knowledge?''


    Evin quickly recovered from his shock and started thinking. Only after a second, he thought of a possibility.


    ''It must be fake. It just has to be,'' he concluded. The reasons were unimportant. Either the old Cobfolk wanted to scam him for knowledge about Earth, or whatever other nefarious scheme was valid.


    ''I need to get out of here,'' was his next sequence of thoughts, and the boy discreetly nced at the door outside.


    "Touch the Contract," Kena said to the boy who was drowning in his thoughts.


    "What?"


    Honestly, Evin didn''t want to touch the paper.


    ''Who knows what this thing can do?''


    When Evin once decided that someone was suspicious, he would start questioning their every move. Just as he was thinking of an excuse to not touch the Contract, Kena sighed and spoke, but in a moremanding tone.


    "Touch it."


    The order was absolute.


    As if a set of strings appeared behind the boy''s back, Evin swiftly moved for the Contract. Just as Evin''s fingers reached the yellowish parchment, he felt an avnche of "Authority" rush through his body.


    Evin felt divine and all-powerful, like a deity had descended upon his body. But his body couldn''t take the sudden surge of potency, forcing his soul to detach from the body. There was suddenly nothing around him anymore. The room full of nts and books was reced with utter emptiness. Almost instantly, millions of stars appeared around Evin and a purple-blue hue was added to the ce, almost like the Big Bang had happened in that instant.


    But Evin couldn''t focus on the surrounding phenomena. He did not know where this ce was, but the state he was in felt terribly familiar to him.


    It was exactly how he felt when he was a spirit.


    Dread and panic crawled out from the depths of his heart. A feeble cry came out of his voice, before it gradually turned into a screech full of primal terror.


    A wave of madness engulfed his consciousness before he started shaking and sobbing, muttering some incoherent babble.


    Falling into such a state, Evin could not notice that a string of light had detached from his soul and went out on its own journey. Its destination seemed to be a gigantic blue star, its light outshining many of the other stars nearby.


    As the light began its long flight through the vast space, it soon met with another light. It was actually the light from the gigantic star. Unlike the small and insignificant string of light that came out of Evin''s body, this one was huge. It was like a beam of energy that was shot out from the gigantic star.


    After the two lights connected, Evin''s string of light became thicker and thicker each second, until it finally became unable to be bigger.


    Evin''s soul also seemed more brilliantpared to its previous state. Finished with its objective, the string of light, which had now turned into a tiny beam of light, went back inside Evin''s soul and the boy was evicted from the mysterious ce.


    Evin''s consciousness reappeared inside his body afterward, but he was still insane and unfunctioning.


    Kena, who thought that the process would take some time and had decided to read through some books, saw that Evin hade back and was surprised, but soon frowned grimly behind the mask when he saw the state of the child.


    He then pulled out a gigantic lodestone from his storage space. If Evin could see it, his eyes would bulge out of his sockets, since the size of the stone was three timesrger than himself. It was one of the rock-grade lodestones that lesser-imposers and above could use.


    The old man absorbed the mana from the stone directly and guided it towards Evin''s head. As the energy moved from Kena''s hands to Evin''s head, it changed color from the usual shining blue color of a lodestone to a mix of silver and purple.


    The energy started washing away the madness inside Evin, carefully and meticulously, minding not to touch upon anything else other than the madness. The process took only ten minutes in total, but Evin was already starting to look better, although groaning and frowning because of a headache that appeared in his head.


    He then remembered what had happened to him previously and hurriedly looked around himself. Finding himself in Kena''s room again, he gradually calmed down. But the splitting headache did not allow him to fall into slumber


    "How was your meeting with the Empress is what I would usually ask, but I can see that you''ve mostly been out of it during the process," Kena said with a smile.


    Vague pictures of a vast purplish space with countless stars appeared inside Evin''s mind.


    "What happened to me," Evin asked with difficulty. He did not bother getting angry at the old man, since it would be like an ant raging at a lion.


    "The Velvet contract in your hands works like a one time supplement for your mana-core. Its effects are most notable on beginner level mages. Take a peek inside yourself," the old man said with a smile.


    Evin did as the old man said and looked inside. To his surprise, his mana core had increased to the size of a peak quarter-core mage. He could use almost a whole 10 kilograms of mana freely now.


    Speechlessly, he nced at the old man with reverence.


    "Who are you?" Evin asked.


    "Although I hate to use this title, I''ll say it to you just this once. I am the former Authority of the World of Earth, champion of the Eight-limbed Race, Kena Noyan"

 Chapter 76: The Curious Former Authority

    Chapter 76: The Curious Former Authority


    Although the revtion was mind boggling for Evin, he reacted ndly. The biggest reason was his frequent meetings with powerful beings, another was because he was processing the information in his brain, but the mostly because his head hurt like hell.


    Also, many things started making sense in his head, the old man''s ownership and casual treatment of a Velvet Contract and his apparent interest in the other worlds.


    Evin guessed that the Authorities on Alvox had knowledge of other worlds, but was not quite able to reach out to them. Perhaps only the Empress had that right.


    Back on Earth, thedy who sent Evin to this World also mentioned something about ''god'' leaving his duty, so his underlings had to take care of his mess. Perhaps those underlings found out about the different Worlds when they were rummaging through the things the ''god'' left behind.


    ''How the hell did he cure my madness, anyway?'' Evin wondered and decided that the man most likely used a simr method to thedy back on Earth.


    "Why did you quit?" Evin asked.


    "I had a very simple reason. Due to the War of Twelve Races, the Cobfolk were about to meet a painful end. It was quite a dire situation, since we were surrounded by both the Ivari and the current Western Kingdom. The North was as imposing as always, swiftly sending the Colossi and the Myrmi to the South via Tower City. The West had also just solved their war with the Griffins and sessfully took over theirnd as well. Obviously, their next target were the Cobfolk. At that time, I decided to give up my position as an Authority and act as a deterrent towards those with ill intentions," Kena exined.


    "How does the process work?" Evin asked.


    "You would learn of the details if you ever be one yourself. But the short and epted answer is that I be weak and mortal, albeit not enough for the North and the West to disregard me. Obviously this solution wouldn''t stand when I die, so I offered the North a proposal for the Cobfolk to be a vassal country eventually, leading to the current situation. A long time had passed since then, peaceful times. At first I thought of retaking my position as an Authority, but over time, I lost my ambitions. Instead, I dedicated my time to my hobbies, or on whoever I find interesting to my eyes," Kena finished.


    Kena''s speech greatly increased Evin''s trust in the old man. And his previous disy of power also dissuaded Evin''s motivation to stand against the former Authority. But more importantly, he could kind of understand what the man meant on a personal level. He used to do the exact same thing, after all.


    Relieving boredom bes somewhat of a necessity when you live long enough. Evin had confidence that the old man was simply interested in the vast World known as Earth. He could probably rummage through Evin''s mind if he wished to, just like the Vulpine Mother, but perhaps he decided that putting someone he found interesting like Evin on a path that he once took was amusing as well.


    Evin did not wish to insist that he was just a normal person. He became special from the moment he set foot on Alvox as a reincarnator from another World. He couldn''t help it when others saw him in that light and started expecting a certain amount of specialness from him.


    ''I really don''t have a choice in this matter, huh,'' Evin concluded after a moment of consideration.


    "Can you tell me the details of the Contract?" Evin said, shaking his head. He immediately regretted his decision to move his head as a throbbing ache pulsed through his brain.


    ''Fuck'' he cursed mentally, while rubbing his forehead.


    Kena seemed to grin behind the mask as his head slightly tilted.


    "I''ll swear on the Oath that I will never use the information I might find inside your head for my interests or my race. If I ever wish to replicate the ideas from your World, I will make sure to inform you beforehand. And finally, in exchange, I will put a spell in your mind that will eventually lead you to the discovery that I found. Most of the information will be locked at first, and you will need to fulfill some conditions to unlock further clues. I must do this in a roundabout way, since I can''t directly talk about these things, I''m afraid," Kena exined.


    ''Hey, that''s like a quest or something. That''s pretty cool,'' Evin thought briefly before focusing on the Contract.


    "Please add a sentence that says when you try to use any method to impart this knowledge to someone, the Contract is deemed breached," Evin did bother listing all the methods, like writing, telling, or using the World of Thoughts. Absolute generalization was the way to go about these things.


    "Sure, any other wishes?" Kena asked.


    "That works. How do we go about doing this exchange?" Evin answered. He knew that he should take these things a bit more seriously, but after what he had gone through, he just couldn''t be bothered. He also had a feeling that he could trust this old man, so his mind was at ease well, mostly. Anyone would feel hesitant when it came to things like these.


    "Let''s do some preparations, first of all. Also, Iorn!" Kena called towards the door. With his call, the door opened, and another Cobfolk appeared from behind the door. Instead of the cloak that Kena wore, Iorn wore a butler''s outfit with three pairs of sleeves and a ck featureless mask.


    "What has happened to my other guests?" Kena asked.


    "The boy has taken the Oath and there were no problems with the procedure. They are waiting in your workce," Iorn reported.


    "Direct them to the guest room and tell them that we might take a day or two. Treat them as my proper guests. Also, find some suitable gift for the Cosmic and the two humans. Give the metal skinshifter a year''s worth of Refined Sorbothium to feed on and offer the boy a "Choice"," Kena ordered.


    Evin could see the butler pause for a second before nodding affirmatively. Iorn left the room soon afterwards.


    ''So rich Aren''t those sorbothium metal bars banned from the general popce? I wanted to buy them for Karan to feast on, since that was the best choice avable, but I wasn''t able to... What''s this "Choice" thing as well?'' Evin wondered.


    "Curious? Don''t worry, you''ll know after you take the Oath," Kena replied, after which he took out a workbench from somewhere and started concocting something. His six arms worked with perfect synergy, giving onlookers a sense of awe. Evin enjoyed observing how the old man worked.


    ''Shit''s kinda nice,'' Evin started thinking idly. Then, he felt a bit worried, since he received so many things from the old man.


    "Thank you for your kindness. For the gifts and the upgrade of my mana-core as well," Evin expressed his thanks.


    "It''s nothing worth mentioning. Your mana-core increasing in size was a matter of time, anyway. There are hundreds of ways to increase that to its current level. They''re a bit expensive, but manageable for most. So even if you never met me, someone else interested in a Child of the Empress would be willing to invest in you. And besides, after you take the Oath, you will learn of a plethora of different methods"


    "How long did it take for you to be an Authority?"


    "About two hundred years, give or take And after that I spent half a millennium as an Authority, before I decided to quit. I thought I would croak over in fifty years after that, but apparently, the seat of an Authority has some unforeseen benefits," Kena exined patiently.


    "Aren''t you a thousand years old at this point?"


    "You lose count at some point," Kenamented nonchntly.


    "True that," Evin agreed.


    Hearing such a statement from someone who looked like a four-year-old amused Kena, but Evin, on the other hand, realized that he was talking to a living legend.

 Chapter 77: Artificial World Sprite

    Chapter 77: Artificial World Sprite


    "How does my grandfather know you in the first ce?" Evin suddenly inquired.


    "Boy, I hate bragging But I''m quite famous in the North. They teach about me in history books," Kena joked andughed with his radio-like voice.


    "No, I meant Ugh, how is he acquainted with you?" Evin asked, rubbing his aching head.


    "I encourage people to send me letters about some interesting matters from time to time. Its public knowledge. I read through every letter, and if I find the content interesting, I arrange a meeting with the sender and hear about it. They receive some treasures from me and everyone''s content. As for the uninteresting ones, I simply don''t bother replying"


    Evin didn''t need to hear about what happens to the more persistent senders. Kena wasn''t a former Authority for show. Evin would evenmend the ones who dared to infuriate the old man.


    The two continued talking about small matters as Evin watched Kena work his magic with the concoction. At times he would feel incredible amounts of mana randomly affecting the concoction, giving him the shivers. And eventually, the final product wasplete.


    Evin was looking at a vial filled with silverish liquid, one that frightfully resembled mercury, and asked.


    "What''s that?"


    "It''s a potion that has a unique effect. Its named the Potion of the Slothful Soul, and it can help its consumer sort the memories inside their soul. You must know how easily our brains tend to misremember small details, or even outright forget a whole set of matters, right?"


    "Yes" Evin replied pensively. He could see some people he was stalking topletely forget about a matter, or misremember some crucial details.


    Evin didn''t mind the old man wanting the boy to make his memory presentable, before he decided to rummage through it. Not only that, it was much faster than Evin talking about all the things on Earth, while being much more reliable, as well.


    "But that''s not the case with your soul. Your soul remembers everything, but it simply does not bother telling your brain. I mean, why would it, it considers its body as the same entity as itself"


    The revtion did not shock Evin that much.


    ''I mean, I lived as a ghost and then reincarnated into a different body with all my memories attached. There must be something going on there, right?''


    "And I''m guessing that potion takes all the memory inside my soul and then sends it to my brain, so you can ess it?" Evin asked.


    "Yes, something like that. I suppose you can think of it as an artificial World of Thoughts Sprite. Your will be slightly quick thinking and you will remember much more than you currently do. For someone who lived for so long, such as yourself, the process will take some time, hence the reason for you staying here for an extended period of time,"


    "Do you mean to say that I will live through my life again?" Evin asked with a tinge of fear.


    "No, no, don''t worry. It will only feel like your head has turned into a little library, where you can ess some memories freely, like you''re reading a book. But you do have to do something for me," Kena reassured Evin gently.


    "What is it?"


    "You have to will the potion to clearly distinguish the information regarding Earth and your personal life, so I can more easily ess the knowledge I want, without delving into your personal life," Kena said.


    "And how can I do that?"


    "Drink the potion and instruct the will inside the potion what you regard as information from Earth and what you regard off-limits. The will of the potion can understand concepts, but it can''t know what certain things mean for you," Kena said.


    Evin thought about how he should go about doing this. First of all, Evin decided he should distinguish between Earth and Alvox. Anything from Alvox was an automatic no. But how should he distinguish personal feelings from relevant information?


    Evin asked for ink and paper, and sat at a desk that Kena conjured. He then started writing in English, so he can get into the proper mindset as well. Then he immediately realized a problem.


    "Lord Kena, how would you be able to understand mynguage?"


    "Well, that should be first on your list, shouldn''t it?" Kena said in a joking tone, but Evin knew he was serious.


    ''Wait I nned to make a list of everything on Earth and then just direct the potion''s will to that, but I suddenly realize how bad this idea is,'' Evin realized after thinking deeply about the matter.


    ''Maybe I should let it disregard every memory attached to pain and agony? No I can think of many natural or cultural ces that made me want to die,'' Evin thought about how he once found himself on top of a freezing mountain in the Middle East and shivered.


    ''Besides, the list n is stupid from the start. I can think of four types of pens off the top of my head, and three types of electrical sockets This is doomed to take a month, if not more,'' Evin sighed from the headache that this was giving him.


    "Lord Kena, I will order the potion to simply distinguish between Earth and Alvox, letting you rummage through the former to your heart''s content. I hope you don''t get too bored with my life," Evin said with a defeated expression.


    He felt bad for the man, since the man had to live through three hundred years of filler and stalking. Then, he thought of one thing that could help with the situation.


    ''Ah, perhaps''


    "Actually, I will instruct it to put everything I learned of for the first time in one spot and the rest I will keep to myself," Evin said with a content face.


    "Oh, I will also instruct it to ignore information regarding people I personally knew. How about that?" Evin felt that this was probably enough. The man would get to see some private moments, but this should take less time.


    "Sure, boy. Take the potion when you feel ready," Kena replied.


    Evin drank the potion, and a sense of rity filled his being. He couldn''t exin it well, but he felt sharp and concise.


    A form of life seemed to appear inside his consciousness, warily feeling its surroundings, getting used to its new host. Sometimes, Evin would feel a tingle in his head, as the being inside him essed some of his memories.


    Evin felt that the Artificial Thought Sprite gave off a simr vibe to the Dark World Sprites that resided in his shadow.


    ''Lord Kena is quite powerful, to be able to give birth to such beings at will,'' Evin could not help but nce at the old Cobfolk.


    After the Sprite finished adapting, it sent an inquiring message to Evin.


    [Pleasepile everything I learned for the first time, while ignoring the people I knew personally, or stalked throughout my life. For the remaining information, please pile it in a different ce in my soul,] Evin instructed.


    The Artificial World Sprite seemed to nod inside Evin''s head and began its giant work.

 Chapter 78: Memories

    Chapter 78: Memories


    Author''s note: The next few chapters will include a lot of jumping back and forth between Evin and Evan.


    Evin is Eviendra on Alvox, who is remembering his past.


    And Evan is Evan Lorelei back on Earth, which was Eviendra''s name on Earth. Enjoy.


    For the next few hours, Evin simply slouched in Kena''s armchair, half-awake and half-dreaming. Hundreds of memories appeared inside his head, one after another, forcing him to remember his past.


    His childhood, the death of his sisters, the ensuing fear of dripping liquids All of them appeared inside his head one after another. Evin could also notice a different pile of memories rting to all the "sorted" information about Earth in his head. The pile was huge, with hundreds of different things piled up on it. From everyday objects to various mythical beasts, a plethora of subjects became apparent to Evin once more.


    But Evin didn''t mind those things that much, deciding to focus on the memories of his life, of when he was Evan Lorelei and not Eviendra.


    Evan Lorelei''s body became more and more frail as he grew up, due to the nightmares and their effects on his mental state. He would get sick more often than other children, and his condition would be worse as well. The boy didn''tin about the sicknesses much, since he knew in his heart that his fate was much better than his sisters.


    ''Where did this silent and enduring personality go?! I want it back!'' Evin screamed inside his head.


    After bing a spirit, Evin''s go-to method of solving difficult problems was to run away from them. Clearly, this trait followed Evin with his reincarnation. He could focus on his magic practices so diligently, only because he had nothing else to do, and the subject was interesting to him But for other problems, he''d do his best to avoid them.


    As Evin pondered about such things, the memories started appearing in his head again.


    After a while, Evan got into a college and soon distanced himself from his family. His fear of dripping liquids became less and less prevalent, and eventually, like everyone he started searching for someone nice to settle in with.


    He met no financial problems in his life, so he wasn''t really conscious about how he spent money. He thought that even if he got a wastrel of a fiance, he wouldn''t really mind it that much, as long the girl didn''t 100 to 0 his savings.


    After a while, he finally found a girl he liked. The girl seemed to like him as well, so they started meeting each other in balls or whatnot.


    Then they started dating, but since the 18th century frowned upon public meetings, the two would meet at Evan''s apartment in the city. The young lovers nned to marry soon after, but Evan was forced into the military. He served two years as a border guard, but when he came back after his military duty was over, he found that his lover had found someone else and married already.


    Crushed with the news, Evan started drinking to relieve the pain. He couldn''t me the woman, since he also had his own fair share of escapades with some country girls in the border areas, but obviously he didn''t give much value to those incidents. He told himself that it was natural to relieve one''s bodily urges.


    Wanting to feel betrayed, but not quite able to, Evan thought his life was over now, that he would fall into depression and kill himself... but reality told him otherwise. It actually didn''t take a long time for him to forget about the matter,pletely opposite of his expectation. He made a huge fuss of it, drinking andining but after two weeks, he was back at life like nothing ever happened.


    Evan wondered if he was just like that. Numb and desensitized. These words didn''t sound so bad to Evin. He knew that society frowned upon such emotionless people, but Evan didn''t understand why such a view existed among others.


    Soon afterwards, Evan went back to his usual life, going to his work and asionally visiting his parents Them constantly nagging him about grandchildren and whatnot, since both his sister and brother already had their own life and children.


    His parents'' words made him even more stubborn about the prospect of marriage. Being single felt like a blessing to him, without the constant pestering of another on his side. The freedom felt refreshing as well.


    Some of his friends joked that he got too hurt by one broken promise, so now he''s acting like a little sissy, but Evan let the jokes slide off without caring.


    But after constant repetitions of these incidents, one thought started to appear inside his head more and more often. About how societypares outgoing people to individuals who would rather keep to themselves. How society actively encourages its individuals to chase after rtions and love. To create a family. But for the ones who would rather stay alone, society pressures them to follow the rest, just like his family and friends who constantly nagged at him to get married.


    With such thoughts, Evan Lorelei decided to write a book.


    To sell his idea, he made a study of ancient human behavior and ancient social structures where cooperation was absolutely necessary for survival. Humans could not hunt a lion alone, but if they cooperated, they could use a plethora of methods to y one. In such a time, ones who wished to stay solitary did not meet a pleasant end most of the time.


    He thenpared these studies with modern human behavior, stating that there was no need for such tight societal dependency in modern days. One could easily take care of oneself, without the need to depend on others so heavily.


    He then wrote that mankind''s ancestral dependency on social rtionships was a curse that was bound to their blood, and that it was time to ascend these primitive ways, to adventure not the Earth, but to delve deeper inside themselves, to understand oneself best before trying to tackle the World


    Looking at these memories, the current Evin was shocked and bbergasted. He didn''t remember half of these things he evidently did. He always thought that he never wrote a book, but apparently he did!


    ''I was basically trying to tackle introversion and extraversion, huh? Wow, I can''t believe I forgot about these things. Now that the potion reminded me, I can remember some bits and pieces. Pretty sure the book failed, though,'' Evin thought.


    As he guessed, next came memories of how he was devastated by the failure of his book. Obviously such radical thoughts were ill-received by most readers, pushing Earth''s Evin even deeper into solitude. Obviously his family and friends offered to help him, but in the eyes of the ostracized loner, it felt like they were taking pity on him.


    After this incident, Evan''s life became more and more difficult. Without him realizing it, he became unable to trust others properly. Every time someone talked to him, he would suspect their intentions. Eventually he startedshing out at his own family and friends, and began to iste himselfpletely. He even kicked out the servants from his house, because he suspected them of talking behind his back.


    Although he had some trouble at first he got used to living alone, he even enjoyed it greatly. And with no one to pay, Evan could support such a lifestyle for quite a long time.


    Drowning himself in his giant collection of books, Evanpletely stopped taking proper care of himself, falling into a state of lethargy and filth. With such a way of life thatpletely disregarded health and hygiene, it wasn''t be hard to guess that the young man would fall sick at some point.


    One day, Evan had spent a little too much time outside and had gotten a fever from somewhere. The thought to consult a doctor or his family never urred to Evan because first, he thought that the fever wasn''t anything special. But the more prevalent reason was his inability to trust others with his well-being.


    That day Evan went to the butcher''s shop to buy some chicken legs and wings, sweating and lightly panting. The way the butcher looked at the smelly and quite obviously sick customer soured Evan''s mood, but he desperately needed the ingredients. He could only curse at the butcher inside his head, while amiably smiling at the man.


    After procuring his ingredients, he staggeringly walked home and started preparing the food, all while coughing and cursing. After starting the fire, Evan put all the ingredients in a pot filled with water and sat at the table, his back drenching with cold sweat.


    A normal person would worry and panic when their body started showing such symptoms, but Evan''s childhood which was riddled with such illnesses. His situation made him quite dull to the symptoms of amon fever. For him, it wasn''t such a big deal. A good meal and a solid night of sleep would fix his body by the next morning.


    After some time passed, Evan ate his beloved chicken soup and headed towards his bed, removing his clothes as he walked. But while he was taking off his shirt, he couldn''t see that his foot was about to hit a crooked wooden tile and stumbled onto the floor with a rumbling noise.


    Evan tried to get up, but the weakened state of his body did not allow him to move a single inch. Half-naked, with his shirt partially removed, Evan fell into a deadly slumber.


    On the cold night in the middle of fall, Evan Lorelei passed out due to hypothermia.


    And thus, the author who advocated solitude over socialization died because he refused to ask for the necessary help to cure a fever.


    "This is so embarrassing, I can''t do this," Evin mumbled under his head and sighed. He slouched deeper into the armchair and startedparing the memories that the potion was showing him and the memories that he thought were real beforehand.


    ''I always felt wronged with the way I died,'' Evin thought as he was reminded about his own death.


    His original assumption was that he died alone and shivering, suffering due to a heavy illness and no one to help him. Little did he know that over time, his brain gradually reced some of the details, only leaving the part about him suffering with sickness. Completely overriding the part about him writing a book which led him to this state in the first ce.


    ''But I still can''t believe how wrongly I remember these. How can Ipletely forget the book that was practically the primary reason of my death?'' Evin wondered. But even after thinking about it with the help of the World of Thoughts, he could only chalk it up to how big of a memory deviation three hundred years can actually create.


    Soon after memories of how Evin started coping with his own death starteding to his mind.

 Chapter 79: Unrequited love

    Chapter 79: Unrequited love


    After his death, Evan had turned into a spirit of some sorts. For the first few days, he simply stood near his rotting body, without even registering what had happened. The newborn ghost never realised how easily one could just... Die.


    He spent that time in regret and thinking about all the things he could''ve achieved in life. He thought that it would''ve been better if he at least got killed by some robber, or contracted an incurable disease, or even slipped on a thin sheet of ice and broke his fucking skull. Anything was better than this.


    After a few hours of raging, the ghost finally calmed down and started wondering about his circumstances.


    What was he supposed to do? Wasn''t he supposed to go to hell like all those people who read his book told him to? What did god want from him?


    And after asking all these questions and finding no answers, Evan decided to pray.


    He prayed for answers, for revtions, for signs and for punishment. Utter silence.


    Unable to hear the answers he so desperately wanted, Evan decided to venture outside. He wondered if others would be able to see him, or if he could affect reality in some way. When he was raging at his death before, he could freely pick up some items and throw them around. But the mess Evan made was already gone, like nothing ever happened inside the room.


    Evan decided to do some experiments, and he concluded that he could touch any object, but if he tried to pick them up, an ethereal copy of the object would be created and the original would stay in ce. If the ghost lost physical, or should he say, spiritual contact with the ethereal copy, it would disappear soon after.


    The ghost also did not need either sleep or food. He never felt tired or spent. Peak condition at all times, but his mind did feel the need to just sit down and enjoy a moment of respite sometimes.


    Evan sighed and tried to go out but fear took over his body like someone had grasped his heart and refused to let go. Evin stood at the doorstep for some time, before he pped his cheeks and resolved to go outside.


    Walking out of the doorsteps, he was met with a beautiful sight of an empty street covered in a thin rug of snow. It was just after dawn, so most people had not left their houses. As the ghost walked on the snow, his footsteps would ruin the perfectly level ground before they disappear promptly.


    Something about this discovery startled Evan greatly, and the man frantically ran around the area and rolled on the ground to leave at least some kind of impact. s, the footsteps of the dead could not be found on the snow-white street.


    Soon, others started appearing in the street. They took no notice of the ghost rolling on the ground and went on about their businesses. The previously level ground was now riddled with an array of footsteps. One of them phased through Evan, which left the spirit dazed with horror.


    A certain realization started emerging inside Evan''s head.


    "I''m dead, aren''t I?" he muttered.


    It was ironic how seeing his dead body did not fully convince the man that he was dead. Instead, it was the fact that his footsteps disappeared and the ones of other did not was what nailed the coffin for him.


    "My life was a joke, my death was a joke, and it seems that my afterlife will also be a joke," Evan joked in a self-depreciating tone.


    Evin looked at these memories and could only sigh withment.


    ''Afterwards, my life became a gradual descent to partial madness. I guess I could be proud of the fact that I stayed half-sane after all that,'' he thought. ording to his memories, the first few years after his death were filled with confusion and disbelief.


    After Evan died, his body was found two weekster, when a mailman came close and smelled something foul inside the house. He called the police, and they found a badly dposed body inside, sprawled on the ground, like he had been knocked out, but with no sign of an attack and no signs of a burry.


    The forensic scientist who was in charge of his case was having a hard time finding the cause of death, before the police found the butcher and thetter exined how sickly Evan looked when he came to him.


    Evan was present in most of the procedure, but all of these were unimportant detailspared to one thing. His parents'' reactions. He vividly remembered how they first reacted to it all. His mother''s broken wails and his father''s defeated expression, filled with guilt and regret. A silent tear streaming down from his eyes. It was the first time he ever saw his father cry.


    A tear appeared in Evin''s eye, as he was once more reminded of those days.


    Evan''s mother started having nightmares after that, dreaming of the deaths of her other two children. She became more and more unstable, alwaysshing out at others for the smallest reasons.


    Evan was worried for her health and started spending time inside his parents'' house, looking over them as they began to cope with his death. He truly felt helpless, knowing that there was nothing he could do to help them.


    ''Thankfully, nothing bad happened to my family afterwards, and they started to get better slowly, but surely,'' Evin thought in a reminiscing mood.


    Evan decided to leave his home after he felt that things had calmed down. He wanted to search for others like himself, to converse with someone else and find some answers.


    When he was living at his parents'' house he did everything he could think of to affect the world of the living. His will was thoroughly smashed by these attempts, so he decided to change his approach and search for clues in the world of the dead.


    He actively started spending time in morgues and cemeteries, hoping to see someone be reborn as a ghost or a spirit like himself. Eventually, staring at dead bodies became a hobby of some sorts to him, but that was a story forter.


    When he was going around these ces filled with death, he stumbled upon a very interesting forensics coroner who worked for the police. An aged man, with a balding head and thick lines across his face. The old man was quite an entric. His primary way of talking was through yells and grunts, especially with police officers, but thew enforcement did not mind his character, since the man knew his job and did it well.


    He also let no one inside his home, which he used as his autopsy office, and naturally, a constant stream of rumors flew around his house, where dead bodies were pried into on a weekly basis. The strictly no-outsiders policy did not help with the problem of gossip as well. But obviously, a closed door did nothing to stop Evan, who was now a ghost.


    When Evan finally entered the house, what he found inside surprised him greatly. Amid the smell of death and decay, and a row of mummified bodies in ss top coffins assembled in one corner the house, a blonde-haired girl with pale skin, still with some baby fat on her face, diligently cutting a line on the stomach of a dead man appeared in front of Evan.


    Her slender fingers tightly gripping a scalpel, drifting slowly, but deliberately. There was a certain mastery of her job that was apparent in the girl''s actions. Sometimes, the old man would instruct the girl to do one thing or the other.


    He acted stern and infallible with the girl, but when she wasn''t looking, a beaming expression full of pride could be seen on the man''s wrinkled face.


    Evan started spending more and more time in this house surrounded by rumors. He soon found out that the old forensic scientist was expecting his own death and had decided to train his future sessor. His daughter was his first choice, since the girl had no fear of the dead and she was sufficiently talented.


    The girl''s name was La Lockhoover. Watching her work gave Evan a feeling of awe and pride. He joined in with the old man to watch over the growth of the girl. The ghost did not have anything else to do, and a number of dead people came to this ce anyway, so it was a win-win situation for him.


    Gradually, Evan started learning more and more about the girl and her circumstances. The mummified bodies inside the house were the members of the girl''s bloodline. The forensics coroner''s ancestors were all distinguished in autopsy, slowly perfecting their craft over generations.


    As for the girl herself, she was the serious and socially inept type. She hardly went out, spending most of her time with dead bodies. And when she did get out, the smell of rotten meat would permeate from her, giving no end to the rumors that surrounded her. La herself though, never gave a second thought to the stares and whispers. Her gait proud and steady, never wavering and never disturbed.


    ''She was basically the perfect individual that I described in my novel. Detached from society, only focusing on perfecting herself. No wonder I got obsessed with her at the time,'' Evin realized as he remembered.


    After the spirit spent three years with the family of coroners, Evan had hopelessly fallen in love with La. Although no spirit appeared in front of him from the dead bodies, Evan was too infatuated with the girl to care. After La became an adult, her stern gaze and sharp cheekbones finally lost their baby-fat, creating a young woman who looked like she was in her early thirties. Most would not consider her to be someone pretty, but to Evan, she was like an incarnation of Aphrodite.


    During this time, Evan felt like he was living. He would sleep in the same room as La, silently looking at her, and sometimes covering her with an ethereal nket. Eventually he began to stay as close to her as possible, but not quite enough to touch her. He knew that if he dared to touch her, his body would phase through and his perfect illusion would be destroyed.


    He knew he was living in delusion, but it still felt nice to pretend to live.


    Evin, on the other hand, was having a hard time living through these memories because of the shame and cringe. He personally checked every memory rted to this period from the "Earth Info" pile that would go to Kena and made sure that none of these shameful memories were part of them.

 Chapter 80: Death

    Chapter 80: Death


    As time passed, the old coroner finally decided that he had taught her everything he knew and decided to set her up as his sessor with the police force. The police knew of the old coroner''s daughter, but did not expect the talented coroner to teach his ways to a woman. As the times back then were heavily biased towards men, the police did not wish to ept the female forensic coroner. But they still shamelessly asked the La''s father to prepare a new sessor, with the excuse of the betterment of society.


    The old man certainly did not take the matter silently, cursing at the policemen for being "idiot pigs" in his loud voice. In truth, he did not mind if his daughter worked as a forensic coroner or not, but he could not let his efforts of teaching and her talents to be wasted in such a way. He decided to contact some of the authorities he knew, ones who were indebted to him, ones whose cases were solved thanks to his reports.


    After a few meetings, mostly consisting of the old man''s deafening shouts, he finally managed to have his daughter rece him. It would''ve been something to celebrate, but the old man was not an idiot. He knew that his daughter''s new coworkers would not ept her so easily. He sat her down and started talking to her about her future.


    "La, you will find life to be unfair and difficult simply because you are a woman. Although I''d love to stay with you and watch over you, we both know that my time is nearing," the old man said in a raspy voice.


    "Don''t worry father, I will do fine. You know my skills in forensics are second to only yourself," La replied, holding her father''s hands.


    "You don''t know how those animals think, your excellence will only spark their jealousy. I don''t wish you to meet with violence because of the envy of others, so stay low. Do only the bare minimum that is expected from you. You can even fail some cases that you could have solved. Those idiots would scorn and belittle you, but I know that the words of others do not affect you,"


    "But father," La began but was interrupted by her father.


    "Silence. I know it is irresponsible and I know that it was I who taught you to keep a professional standard, but it is a small sacrifice in exchange for your safety. Promise me that." the old man said with finality.


    La nodded with a heavy face.


    "Good. Also, find someone to marry, get a kid and perhaps teach your methods to the child. I suppose a boy would be best, considering thetest circumstances," the old coroner joked.


    "Father, I wish only to better my methods, I don''t have time to waste on children," La protested but a swift p from her father forced her to reconsider her words.


    "You fool! Then should I have spent all my time working with dead bodies instead of raising you and let the history of my family die?! The Lockhoover history is sacred as it is crucial. Our family was the pioneer of Forensics for the past three hundred years, and that should be the case for the next three hundred! I don''t care if you have to birth an ape to teach it your methods, but you MUST leave your legacy in this world!" the old man''s voice reverberated in their house.


    "I''m sorry, father," La hurriedly apologized for her mistake.


    A sharp cough came out of the old man''s lungs, his face pale and sweaty from histest outburst. He soon calmed down and received his daughter''s promise to lie low and train an heir.


    Evan watched everything with interest, but when it came to the talk of marriage, his face started paling. Worry and jealousy filled his expression, and beads of sweat dripped from the spirit''s forehead. It was an unnatural reaction. What right did he have to dictate who the girl married and who she rejected? He was dead, and that was the end of it.


    But even after the talk finished, La did not waste her time looking for suitors of her liking, giving Evan some pointless hope. She would mostly stay in the house and take care of her father, while doing the asional jobs that came from the police. The old coroner was not a needy patient, only requiring a clean environment and good food. He would asionally instruct La on how to better lie in the forensics report.


    "You can chalk that one up to hemlock," the old man was saying from the bed after hearing the symptoms before the death and hearing La''s thoughts on the dead body.


    "Although we both know it''s actually a poison thates from pufferfish, most policemen don''t know about it. Even if you tell them that it''s from pufferfish, those idiots will either brush you off, or simply argue that it''s hemlock. Don''t waste your breath on those apes," he exined.


    La thought about it and figured that her father was right. Such things happened often after she took over the job, where someone from the police woulde and start arguing about the results of the forensics examination.


    La learned that it was best to humble herself in front of such people. She did not know why they so heavily insisted on


    "You are absolutely right," was her go-to answer, but she would always ask to remove her name from the new forensics report, as per her father''s instructions.


    "A wrong forensics report can lead you to get persecuted for the crimes of others. Most likely those policemen received some money from the actual suspect and wanted to clear the clues that led to him. Since everyone knows who the suspect is, but pretends not to Just follow their lead and act blind. But when something goes wrong, their first reaction would be to shove the me to others. This is why I tell you to always create extra copies of the forensics report and to never put your name and signature on works that you haven''t done yourself," the old coroner said.


    La was learning a lot about how real life worked for these past few years. During the first twenty years of her life, all she did was learning how to dissect bodies and find clues from their state. Her father''s constant yells were also bing non-existent as oftely. Coupled with the interesting things that he talked about, La could only hope that her old man would live forever.


    But s, time was cruel and the old coroner passed away silently on his hard, wooden bed. None came for his funeral as his whole life was devoted to his profession. Only La silently began her work of immortalizing her father.


    Through her tears and snots, she washed her father with a disinfectant and removed every organ from his body. She then began her work of recing his bodily fluids and gasses with preservation chemicals. Then came the long task of mummifying the body.


    First, she had to dry the bodypletely, before wrapping in special linen. She uniformly applied a kind of salt to every part of her father''s body and left it in an airtight coffin. After three days of constant working, the most important part of her work was finally done. Now she only had to wait and see. And after the body dried enough due to the salt, she would wrap his body with linen and resin and her job would be finished.

 Chapter 81: First madness

    Chapter 81: First madness


    Evan stayed with her through all of this, wiping her tears with false copies of handkerchiefs. The tears that would drip through her cheeks would be smudged with it, but would never disappear. The futility of the task was breaking Evan''s will, but he still stubbornly persisted.


    To forget his situation, he started actively talking to La. Obviously, it was a one man show, featuring Evan''s delusions and fantasy. He pretended that La responded, that his love could see him and hear him. That she lived with him.


    Deep in his head, the spirit could notice that his mind was ying around at the edge of insanity and sooner orter he would go over the edge and fall to madness. Only his single-minded obsession allowed him to stay functional.


    Hallucinations and reality created a confusing mess out of Evan''s mind, making the spirit believe in his grand charade. Living in an artificial life weaved out of the lies that his brain gave birth to, Evan was the happiest man alive. There was only one unbreakable rule in his perfect world: don''t touch anyone.


    Obviously, La did not know of the delusional spirit that lived together with her. After she had finished her work, she began to focus on her official job, while also keeping an eye out for a man she might fancy.


    The task turned out to be much harder than she anticipated. The only men she ever met were from the police, and practically all of them were certified assholes of a certain degree. La really did not know how they found the free time to nitpick at every single aspect of her work when they met.


    As for others, they were not so weing to date a woman with so many gossips surrounding her. Her sharp features also did not help her situation. There were obviously some people who pitied her situation and tried to get to know her a bit better But they would immediately change their minds after a single visit to her house. The smell of decay and the row of mummies felt a bit too much for the young men to handle. They also felt an extremely hostile presence in the house, forcing them to reconsider their choices.


    ''It was a good thing that witch trials were abolished in the early 18th century, as La would have been a prime suspect for those religious zealots'' Evin thought in retrospect.


    But just because they couldn''t burn her at a stake, didn''t mean that they could not bombard her with ill-natured rumors.


    Although they did not affect the La herself, it did affect the promise she gave to her father. But after pondering about the matter for a bit, she found a perfect solution: she decided to adopt a child. She didn''t need to go through a year of pregnancy, and she could also skip the worst years of raising a child.


    Making up her mind, she immediately headed towards an orphanage. The sight inside pained her heart, every child looking at her with hope and desperation. A row of battered children, thin and malnourished, wearing thin rugs that could barely cover their tiny bodies. Had she been a millionaire, she would have adopted them all, but sadly, her finances told her that she could only afford to raise a single childfortably.


    She checked the children''s hands one by one and found two children that met her criteria. A boy and a girl. The boy was only six years old, but the strong grips of his fingers and unparalleled dexterity greatly shocked La. She guessed that the boy had tried his hands in pick pocketing, but what kind of street child did not do such things in their lives?


    The girl, though, was much younger and seemed to be in a more dire need of help. Her belly bloated due to the excess fluids and a pale, her dry, cracked skin that was peeling off at some spots. But all of that did not affect her deft hands and sharp mind. Even though she was only four years old, her gaze was akin to a predator in a jungle.


    In the end, La decided to adopt both of them. Although her sry would not be enough to feed three mouths, she had enough in her savings tost until the two of them were able to start helping with her work.


    The boy''s name was Zack, and the girl was called Pebble. But under the insistence of La, she was renamed to Penelope. The girl didn''t seem to mind that much.


    The two children collected what little possessions they had, and the three went to their new house. A row of jealous children stares daggers at the two.


    "Zack''s a pickpocket! You can''t take him with you, he''ll ruin your life!" one of them shouted.


    The culprit squirmed ufortably, but La could see him mouthing something at the child.


    "Is it true?" La asked with a thin smile. Silence was the only answer she got from the boy. Zack was thinking about what kind of excuse he should make, what kind of face should he make when talking about it and how badly should he beat that meddling boyter. But the next question from his new "mother" shook him out of his silence.


    "Have you ever got caught?"


    "No," Zack replied subconsciously, since he used to brag about his deeds all the time. He promptly closed his mouth and nced at La warily.


    "Then that means you''re innocent," La shrugged and prompted the boy to follow after her while she carried Penelope in her arms.


    Zack felt grateful and blessed to meet such an understanding "mother". He was afraid of what would happen to him after this, but with thanks to this interaction, he felt that it might not be such a bad thing after all.


    La could see that the two started to show some hints of fear when they neared her house. And when she approached the door and unlocked it, Zack could not help but utter.


    "You''re the Witch of Street 11?"


    Zack then immediately shut his mouth and nced at his new "mother" guiltily.


    "So the kids call me that, huh? Surprised you didn''t recognize me even though I''m that famous," La smiled when she first heard her nickname. She then started interrogating the two kids for more info.


    "One of the older kids told me to not approach your street, because a witch would steal me and make a sewn doll out of me. I only knew about which house to avoid, not your appearance," Zack exined at her insistence. The kinddy that was like a ray of hope to him now looked like those evil sorceresses that came straight out of the stories he heard.


    But when he entered the house, his fear got off the charts when he saw all the rotting brown linen wrapped around what seemed to be dead bodies. Just as he was wondering if he should run for it, he heard the thud of a door close behind him.


    Fearfully, he looked back and saw a pale figure of La, locking the door from the inside. Perhaps it was his imagination, but he also seemed to see another figure next to the doorway gently taking off La''s coat and hanging it on a nail the wall.


    "Who''s that?" he asked, no one in particr.


    "What?" La asked, confused with the child''s actions.


    "There was someone who took off your coat and hung it from that nail!" Zack eximed, but when he looked at La again, she was just about to take her coat off.


    "Hey, don''t make me feel scared, I live alone," La replied and picked up Penelope and put her on a chair and started preparing food, while she urged the frightened boy to ask questions. Eventually, the conversation lead to La exining the history of her family and the details of her job. The talk calmed the boy, although he could not understand most of the words that La used.


    Contrary to the boy''s antics, the girl was as calm as one could be. The sight of the mummified bodies didn''t seem to affect her much, and she continued to survey her new home and her new foster mother.


    None were able to see the mad spirit thrashing around the house. Thements of the young boy was thest push that tipped the spirit over the edge. He was wing at the boy, trying to touch him in one way or another, trying to make the boy see him again.


    His firstpse of madness had begun.

 Chapter 82: The incident

    Chapter 82: The incident


    Evin wondered what would happen to him after he went insane. He was never conscious during hispses of madness, so he was quite curious about what he did. He patiently awaited for the memories to arrive.


    But contrary to his expectations, the following memories werepletely unrted to La. Evin saw his past self sitting next to a group of campers around a fire in the middle of a dark forest. There were five men, and they spoke in anguage that Evan never heard before, but somehow he could understand every single word they said.


    Looking at the situation, Evin was astonished.


    It was the exact same spot he regained consciousness after his first bout with madness. He clearly remembered this part even after so many years, because it was just so shocking.


    ''Even the potion can''t show me what I did during those times?'' he thought with a puzzled expression, as he continued watching.


    The confusion Evan felt at the time could not be described simply. He even thought he was alive again for a few minutes, before he noticed that none of the campers took notice of him.


    He gradually started remembering the details before his madness. His death, his time with his parents and his time with La.


    "La!" Evan shouted out and frantically looked around himself in panic. Only the eerie dark of the forest could be seen around.


    Long story short, Evan had somehow ended up three thousand kilometers away from La''s house and as far as he could tell, five years passed without him knowing it.


    Evan then departed on a long journey back to his love. It took almost three months for him to find his way back, but it was all worth it, since the familiar house came to his view once more. He mmed open the door to finally see his beloved but a gut-wrenching sight greeted him.


    His beautiful La sat on a wheelchair, a gigantic scar running through one of her eyes. Her pale arms were covered with a bandage, and the shape under it did not resemble those of a normal human hand. A gloomy smile was stered on her face as she recited to her two adopted children the knowledge that her father taught her once. The knowledge that she could never perform herself.


    Zack and Penelope were following their mother''s instructions on a big wooden doll. Penelope''s permanently sharp gaze stayed, but the girl now showed a variety of other expressions as well.


    Zack would sometimes nce at La''s arms, and a hint of guilt would appear in his eyes.


    Evan wished to know what happened, but the topic seemed to be a taboo in the house. The frustration of not knowing what happened was eating at him alive. But the biggest reason he was so agitated was because he thought that he could have prevented everything somehow. Zack saw him once, so someone else could''ve seen him as well!


    There must''ve been something he could''ve done to affect the situation.


    But halfway through the speech, he realized that he was starting to delude himself again. He was dead, and he had to make peace with it somehow. Even if he loved La like no one else in the World, La herself had never seen him before.


    Evan took another look at La''s pitiful figure. Even if he couldn''t help, he had the right to know what happened. Since the house did not wish to discuss this matter, he went to the nearest police station and started rummaging through the case reports there. Finally, he found what he wanted.


    [ Case No: 50  9463. La Lockhoover, Report for assault ]


    He hurriedly opened the report, but there was nothing inside, no summary of events, no list of injuries, no list of usees, nothing. Only a single sentence was written on the bottom of the report.


    [ Conclusion: Reporter fell from the stairs and falsely reported that someone pushed her ]


    A silent rage brewed inside Evan''s heart. The culprits were the ones who were paid to bring justice. Evan was very familiar with how they changed case reports ording to their wishes. He saw it happen inside La''s house hundreds of times.


    But even after he realized what happened, Evan felt empty. What could he do? Everything happened already, and even if he was together with La at that time, he could''ve done nothing and it wouldn''t have helped La in any way. He could only go back to his old ways To silently stare at the female coroner, his love.


    Evan never felt bored with this task back then. All of her actions were alluring to his eyes. The way she stared into the distance when she thought, the way she held her cup and took a sip from it as silently as one could, and then slowly gently putting the cup back on the table. Making no noise whatsoever in the process. After aplishing her task, she would smile lightly with satisfaction.


    But now, La did not have her slender, but nimble fingers she once had. Instead, she now had two lumps of limbs that could only be used to hug something, as a way of holding them. Evan soon saw what had happened to her hands, when Penelope was changing the bandages. It was thoroughly mutted with no hope of recovery. Her palms were smashed inside with a hammer and two of her fingers were missing.


    Penelope would do her best to change the bandages as fast as possible, because her mother would cry silently after every instance she looked at the state of her hands. The wounds would evidently hurt quite badly, as La would wake up in the middle of the night sweating and groaning from pain.


    The ensuing few years were the most difficult of Evan''s life. Looking at La in such a state reignited his trauma and memories of his sisters would constantly reappear from deep inside his head, adding on to his torment of having to witness his love''s suffering every day. The futility and uselessness of his existence stabbed at his heart every time his eyes fell on La. So many times he wished to leave, to refuse to see these heartbreaking sights every single moment of his existence.


    But he wanted some kind of closure, a proper end. He felt indebted to witness her finale. The death of the coroner. He felt that it was getting closer and closer. A glint of determination was apparent inside La''s eyes. An eptance of some sort. Evan knew that she nned to end her life.


    A mess of emotions filled his entire heart as he waited for what might happen. Worry for La, Curiosity of what would happen after she died, Disgust at himself for awaiting someone''s death, and most of all, Hope for he could finally have a chance to meet her in the afterlife.


    Ten years passed in the blink of an eye. The two children had learned everything they could from their mother. Instead of working as forensic scientists for the police, the family of three began a funeral business for the wealthy. Aside from the normal funeral services, they also offered services of embalming, or mummifying important people at the requests of their families or the dead themselves.


    Zack and Penelope had grown splendidly as brother and sister, and both of them were close to marrying their beloved. No more misfortune fell on the family, but the aftereffects of the previous one still lingered persistently.


    La''s condition had never gotten better, and her looks were bing more and more haggard. Her blonde hair hadpletely turned white by the time she turned thirty, and the constant grimaces of pain lead to deep lines of wrinkles to take root on her forehead. She spent thest few years dictating a book to Penelope, who was tasked with writing everything down.


    Evan stayed with the family for most of the time, while asionally visiting his parents to see how they were doing. He had be much more adept at controlling his thoughts and did not fall into a state of madness once more.


    And one day, La gathered the two children and began her talk.


    "Zack, Penny,e here for a bit," she gestured towards the two children.


    The two approached their mother with a look of love and care. They did not know what she wished to talk about, but their mother''s serious attitude forced them to stay silent.

 Chapter 83: Reanimation

    Chapter 83: Reanimation


    "I am nning to end myself this night," La said with cold determination.


    "What?" Zack and Penelope could not understand their parent''s words and could only answer in a shocked and panicked voice.


    "I have nothing left to do in this world, I''ve taught you everything I know of and I''ve left a book to continue the legacy of the Lockhoover family. Although I understand that it''s impossible for you two to work for the police, because of what happened to me, the knowledge persists"


    "Just because you''re done with your work, doesn''t mean you can talk of dying like that! Did you take us in just because you wanted to teach us your methods and nned to end yourself afterwards?" Zack shouted in response.


    "Don''t be unfair," La replied coldly.


    Hearing her simple answer, Zack could not think of anything to say. It was, after all, because of him that La ended up like this. If only he could keep his darned mouth shut, none of this would have happened.


    "Besides, the pain in my arm would kill me sooner orter. I''ve learned to hide the grimaces and groans, but I don''t wish to live such a life," La said decisively. There was no hesitation, or any other emotion in her voice.


    "Please don''t do this! Stay with us! Please!" Penelope started begging her mother as tears streamed across her face.


    La tried to caress her head, like she did when the girl was still a child, but just by touching something, the stinging pain in her hands started ring up. La tried her best to ignore it and raised her daughter''s head and kissed her on the forehead.


    "I love you two with my heart and I will always look after you from beyond. Although it pains me, your tears and pleas will not change my decision And besides, something tells me that the afterlife would not be something so bad," La said softly as she wiped the tears off Penelope''s eyes. Even with her battered hand, she could wipe the teardrops with the tip of her covered hand without hurting the girl''s eye.


    Even with that, it still took a long time for the two children to give in to their mother''s decision. Of course, they never epted it. Zack wanted to ransack the house and rid it of poisons, but his quick wits told him that La would be prepared for such a reaction.


    Penelope cried her heart out for the longest time, but after a few hours, only an awkward silence ensued inside the room. How was one supposed to talk to someone who had nned out her death?


    "Thank you for respecting my decisions. Now leave,e back in the morning and tell the police that I must''ve mistaken my pills. The concoction that relieves my pain does not look so different from the disinfectant I use to clean bodies in the middle of the night. I don''t want you two to be prosecuted for my attempt at death. Now leave," La exined calmly.


    The two children were speechless at their mother''s calmness, but they could kind of understand how it was possible.


    It was not the first time they saw someone die, in fact, they were probably the most calmpared to others, when faced with something like this. When one worked with dead bodies on a daily basis, they couldn''t help but think of the case subject deeply.


    "Thank you for telling us beforehand," Penelope muttered out, and left.


    A while after her children left, La sat in her armchair silently, trying to ignore the pulsating pain that came from her battered arms.


    Gently sighing, she slowly dragged herself onto her bed and started wing at the surrounding things, making a mess of the covers to make the scene look like the aftermath of a panicked struggle. The stitches that held her hands together became undone and an unnaturally ck blood bled from her hands. She whimpered from the unbearable pain, but she didn''t stop until she was satisfied with her ''case''.


    "It''s a bit sloppy, but it''s enough to convince those idiot pigs..."


    She then took out a small steel bottle from from between her breasts, carefully pulled at the cork on top of it, and began to inhale its contents. Gradually, the pain disappeared and was reced with growing excitation. Her eyelids became heavier and heavier and just before she lost consciousness, she drank the solution she used to embalm dead bodies... as a kind of tribute to her father.


    Evan witnessed her death with silence and expectation. He stared at her dead body, patiently waiting for something to happen. His instincts were telling him that she was special.


    Just like he''d expected, an illusory spirit slowly phased out of La''s dead body. A perfect copy. Evan looked at the spirit expectantly, but could not quite say something to her.


    Should he tell her that he was a ghost that spent every single moment of his afterlife with her?


    But Evan did not get the chance to start the conversation, as La looked around her and found an unknown man sitting on a chair, silently staring at her.


    "Who are yo-" she tried to ask, but suddenly, her face paled even more and the veins inside her body started convulsing violently.


    Evan hurriedly ran towards her and held her in his arms. Finally, after almost twenty years, his skin could finally reach his beloved, but the situation did not allow him to rejoice. The intensely shaking woman in his arms was starting to froth at her mouth, adding on to Evan''s panic. He didn''t know what to do, aside from pointlessly holding La in his arms and shouting at her that it was going to be okay.


    Evan refused to let anything happen to her now that he was finally able to affect her somehow But he simply didn''t know anything about the situation he was in, aside from the fact that he was a ghost of some sort.


    He struggled blindly, but a sudden feeling of sharp pain in his neck stunned him for a brief moment. He then noticed that La was biting at his neck with a crazed expression. Evan did not wish to push her away, but he knew that there was definitely something very wrong with this whole situation.


    But La did not give him any chance to ponder and started to w at his body brutally with her nails and stuffing her mouth with whatever she could rip out. Evan never felt pain after he was reincarnated, but La''s brutal maiming forced him to remember the pain and agony of being a mortal.


    But Evan forced himself to stay still. He most definitely did not imagine his first meeting with La to be like this, but this could help her in some way, and Evan was willing to let her do as she wanted. He could only sit there motionlessly and let the newly created spirit to rip him to shreds. And even though the pain was unbearable, he still weed it as it made him feel alive, somewhat.


    Evan''s spiritual state soon started looking like a rag doll that just got chewed out by a dog. Bits and pieces of his skin and flesh were missing, and some sort of unnatural cold light was shining from inside.


    ''Perhaps I would actually die this time,'' Evan started to think, while he tried his best to ignore the pain. If he was beingpletely honest, he thought a lot about suiciding as a ghost, but something was telling him that it would be futile. And he wasn''t that desperate in the first ce, so he never tried.


    As Evan was thinking of such things, La''s attacks suddenly stopped and she began to slow down. He looked at the woman and saw her fading, her already pale face dimming ever so slightly.


    Evan knew instinctively that whatever was happening to La was something ultimate and irreversible. He struggled futilely as the hands that could grab at her previously, now simply started phasing through her and creating a blurry mess of her figure wherever he touched.


    A minuteter, in a room filled with death, the spirit cried, his hope blurred into oblivion.


    Perhaps another madness followed afterwards, or perhaps Evan had just nked out for a while to mend his broken heart.


    Evin sighed on thefortable armchair and started thinking about all the other incidents in his life as a spirit that happened to him afterwards.


    Many incidents that were simr to La''s happened with Evan in his long life. It was truly fascinating how fast a person could forget. Only three yearster, Evan was already stalking another woman he started to fancy. Although there were some confusions and feelings of betraying La, he got over them quite quickly.


    Most would say that Evin''s life as a spirit was meaningless and useless. He would also agree with them, if he was the Evan of 18th-19th century. Butter on, he started to enjoy well, not quite enjoy, but appreciate his situation a bit more. The stories that he could witness, some tragic and some happy, were exclusive to him and Evan enjoyed spectating all of them without question. Even the most mundane of people would have something interesting going on about their lives.


    Evan also started finding more and more spirits that would simply go insane after a few seconds of dying. Evan tried to hide and observe their behaviour, but every time they would be able to lock on to him without effort. Distance and obstacles didn''t seem to affect them much. One day, Evan was staring at a dead body through the eyes of a camera hoping to finally see what these revenants were up to, but after the spirit was reanimated and turned crazed, it immediately nced at the camera and started to search around the facility for him.


    It was quite horrifying for Evin, who felt that he was safe and in control of the situation.


    But there was one thing that Evan could notice. The timeg of them staying sane was bing longer and longer over time. Evan was sure that at some point, he would find another spirit like himself and his days of loneliness would finally end. Well, fortunately, thedy came and solved all of his problems for him.


    And it wasn''t like he didn''t have his days ofpanionship. The special cats he would find at some points in his life acted like symbols of tranquility where he could stay sane and feel alive after a weary period of loneliness and spectatorship.


    Evin shook his head as he let the potion do its job of sorting his memories. Sittingfortably, Evin watched his life sh past his eyes. After everything was finished, he shook his overworked head and stood up to Kena.


    Four days had passed after Evin drank the potion. The image of a World of Thoughts Sprite was getting dimmer in Evin''s head, almost transparent. It was sending signals to Evin that he should contact its creator.


    "Finished with your sorting? That took much longer than I expected. But that in itself is a good thing, means I have a lot of things to dig through," the old man said joyously.

 Chapter 84: The Choice

    Chapter 84: The Choice


    The two then went on to write the details of the agreement on the Velvet Contract. After they both signed on it, Kena gave the contract to Evin. The old man didn''t need the powers of the Contract, but Evin could have Arza or someone else touch it for a swift increase of their mana-core.


    Kena certainly did not stand on ceremony, as Evin could feel the invasive power run through his memories and record them separately in a ce inessible to Evin. But he could also notice that it took notice to not touch any of the information that could be found on Evin''s personal stash of memories.


    The process did not take long, Kena was done in a few minutes. His processing speed was much higher than Evin''s and his mastery over the World of Thoughts was virtually unparalleled under the Authorities.


    His eyes started gleaming as he looked at the millions of inventions and ideas that could be found on Earth. And this was but the tiniest fraction of the entirety of Earth''s history. Even though Evin could be called one of the most well-knowledgeable people on Earth, he could only learn about a limited amount of things.


    Evin also received a lot of benefits from this memory therapy. If he ever decided to trade his memories with others, he could stay content knowing that he didn''t give false info. Also, his memories had a slight psychological effect on his brain. He became slightly less humane in a way, since the clear and concise memories of living as a spirit were overflowing inside his mind currently. But that should be fixed over time.


    There were also some benefits, such as Evin bing more close to his original personality, which is the diligent and enduring type.


    "Well, it''s time for me to uphold my end of the deal," Kena said and his hands started shining with silver light. He touched the boy''s forehead slightly and Evin could sense some sort of spell taking hold inside his head. At first, he couldn''t quite notice anything out of the ordinary, but a string of information appeared soon after.


    [ Find St and inquire about the origins of the Horn, as well as the battle of the Fourteen Heroes ]


    ''St, as in the Authority of the World of Fire, right? How am I supposed to find such an individual and how am I supposed to make him meet me?'' Evin thought in wonder. But just in case, he essed the World of Fire and entered it.


    Andscape of an inferno met him. Most ces'' ming counterparts looked burnt down and destroyed, but Kena''s ce looked quite normal, although there were still some embers and mes bursting forth from some inmmable objects. Perhaps the materials that were used to build the old Cobfolk''s house were resistant to fire.


    Inside the World, Evin shouted for the Lord of the World of Fire to appear, but no progress was made for his efforts.


    ''It was worth a try,'' Evin said before leaving the World.


    "Do you know where he is currently?" he asked Kena, who noticed the boy take on a hue of red briefly beforeing back.


    "Not really, we''re old acquaintances, but connections can only hold on for so long But I do know he is loitering around the North somewhere. He never leaves this ce and he designates some Super-imposers under him to take care of the World of Fire in his stead," Kena said.


    "So I just need to look out for him as I go? Do you have a picture of him or something for me to use?" Evin asked.


    "I do, but he''s most likely changed his appearance to stay low, so it''s pointless. But here you go," Kena said and touched Evin''s forehead. Another image appeared inside Evin''s head. A tall individual, with a pair of blistering red horns on his head and charred ck skin. His eyes were crimson and his hair was ashen, like over burnt soot.


    ''Somebody definitely would''ve found this guy if he went around looking like that. Guess I can only take a look around,'' Evin tried to make peace with his situation, but he couldn''t help but feel that he was scammed.


    "Don''t make that face Your greed will be the end of you," Kena sighed, before continuing. "Besides, there should be many benefits for you to meet my old friends. I like to pride myself in being generous with gifts," Kena said with a harrumph.


    The old Cobfolk was definitely right. Just the amount of refined sorbothium that Evin received would make most others want to rob him dead.


    ''If the other three received a simr gift from Kena'' Evin could only guess how much profit his group made during this small side quest. Moreover, if the other individuals or ces that Evin meets and discovers thanks to the spell are also this generous, Evin simply had to follow these footsteps that Kena walked beforehand and his life would be set.


    Feeling better, Evin beamed a small smile.


    "Also, take this," Kena said and gave Evin a ring.


    The ring was simply designed, with a sorbothium base and a thin, dark purple line went around it. All in all, it looked like three stripes, one dark blue and two silverish ones.


    "What''s this?"


    "It''s a time bomb," Kena answered tly.


    "A what?" Evin made a dumb face.


    "If you ever get in trouble insert mana into that thing, and there might be a chance that it might be helpful," the serious butler said.


    "Guess I''ll keep it on my thumb for the time being, then," Evin replied and told Iorn send Evin''s regard to Lord Kena.


    Kena then took out a box that looked quite familiar to Evin, a metal box with a flesh-like circr hole running through it. Evin couldn''t forget about the box even if he tried. He reluctantly put his hands through the hole and felt the needles pierce through his skin and inject the tentacle monster into his body.


    A few hourster, he would see two of such creaturesfortably tugging onto his heart, watching every move he made and deciding whether they should gently squeeze his heart as a warning, or if they should outright squash it to death.


    "Now, for the second most important matter. The "Choice"," Kena began.


    ''Oh yeah, he was talking about something like that,'' Evin thought and he perked his ears to listen closely.


    "Well, we''re not short of time, so I''ll exin from the beginning. First of all, there are a few misunderstandings that the North had created for the rest of the World. The horns are not some sort of blessings from St. The upper echelons have known how to artificially create them from when St first created his own two pairs of horns"


    "The Horn Ceremony is in reality a magical spell that bombards the children with thousands and thousands of kilograms of various World energies. There''s also another World of Life spell that grinds and thins the recipient''s bones and uses the excess bone powder to create a horn or two on top of their heads, hence the immense pain they have to go through when the horn starts forming"


    "So, as you can imagine, since the process itself is artificial, why not let the children choose which horns they want to get? It''s just a small sacrifice to make this whole process seem authentic. The North may be tough, but they can''t survive through the pressure of the other three countriesbining their efforts to receive the same benefits as the Northmen. The various world energies that are thrown between the children randomly attach itself to a host and start gathering other simr energies of its kind. And the World of Life spell will only activate if it finds an excess of such energies in a child"


    ''So there are only a few people who receive horns and the ones that don''t receive anything don''t just get a useless decoration of a horn,'' Evin thought.


    "Now, with all of this information, you probably guessed what the choice is," Kena smiled.


    "I''m guessing it''s an offer that is given to only a few children, where they can choose the World for their horns, right?"


    "Yes, now ask yourself, which horn would you like to receive? Think about the matter for as long as you need and show this emblem to the supervisor of the Horn Ceremony," Kena said and brought out a badge with the symbol of a six armed Cobfolk warrior.


    "Can I ask you something about the users of the Heavy World?" Evin asked.


    "What about it?" Kena asked.


    "I''m not sure if you''ve reached that part in my memories, but there''s a concept called gravity in there, and I''m very sure that it has something to do with the Heavy World," Evin said.


    "Now that you mention it, that is true Hmm, the most prominent user of the Heavy World are mostly cksmiths and lodestone tinkerers as far as I know. I''ve never seen anyone use that world inbat, aside from using it to float around the battlefield," Kena dug through his old archive of memories.


    "How about Two Tales? You''ve been acquainted with him for some time right?"


    Hearing the name of his former colleague, a nostalgic mood epassed Kena.


    "That guy He always wore that weird clothing of his But I can''t say it didn''t suit him. Now that I''ve seen your memories, I can see where he got the inspiration from. As for his abilities, he rarely fought and when he had to, he would usually use his fist to solve everything. I''ve never seen him cast his magic, I''m sorry," Kena replied apologetically.


    ''Weird, then does that mean that Two Tales and Twelve Jokes know more about other Worlds, while the rest of them don''t?'' thought Evin.


    Evin left the man''s study and headed towards the guest room that Kena directed him towards.


    Inside, he found the members of his group loitering around, each of them ying aroun with an object in their hands.


    Arza was holding the Channeling Artifact that Evin got for him, but now it had three more colorful metals on it: Pink, Blue and Red. The World of Life, Water and Fire respectively. It must have been the suitable gift that Kena spoke to Iorn about.


    Ssatsko was holding a dagger in his hands, one which emitted a dangerous red aura, one that was close to the crimson horns of the appearance of St that appeared in Evin''s head. His old dagger was able to absorb Fire energy into itself, shaping itself to be slightly longer to surprise its enemies. Evin wondered what kind of new things Ssatsko could do with his new weapon, which was an obvious upgrade from before.


    Rith, on the other hand, was simply beaming as she sat on one of the cushions in the room. Evin didn''t know what she received, but it seemed to be quite good, judging from her expression.


    "Hey, all," Evin greeted as he entered.


    "Oh, Evin, how was your business?" Rith chimed in.


    "It was quite good, I got quite a few boons for myself You three also seem content with yours," Evin began and started exining the things that he was allowed to to the group.

 Chapter 85: New abilities

    Chapter 85: New abilities


    After Evin had exined everything, he began questioning Ssatsko.


    "Grandpa, if you''re hiding any other ce with former authorities or Beast Lords, then you better tell about them now," Evin said in a joking tone.


    "Lord Kena was thest of them all, but from what I heard, you''re going to follow his footsteps aren''t you? I''m pretty sure you''re going to meet many more distinguished individuals," Ssatsko answered with a smile.


    "You sure we''re done now?" Evin didn''t wish to believe the sly old man.


    "Ah, now that you mention it, we''re going to meet an Artificer expert who can make channeling artifacts. Since the town here above is basically a sorbothium mining city, naturally, there would be many people specialized to create rte artifacts," Ssatsko said.


    "I knew it"


    "Well, we''re going there as a customer, so there won''t be anything special"


    Evin then got Karan back into his shadows again and left a hefty amount of Refined Sorbothium with him. He stored the rest in his own storage artifact and asked Rith about what she got.


    "Look here," Rith said, and showed Evin something that looked like a star-shaped metal pendant. As far as Evin could tell, there was nothing special about the thing.


    "It''s an item that was created by the Ancestor. Iorn exined that Lord Kena received it from him when he was learning about the World of Space. It acts like a crutch for Space mages for when they''re trying to maintain moreplicated spells. It''s like having a secondary specialized brain for sustaining World of Space spells," Rith exined excitedly.


    "Then what can you do with them now?"


    "Well, obviously, I can create better portals. I can probably send you back above your bed, without a single inch of deviation. And I can maintain that portal for much longer periods, provided I''m keeping an ample supply of lodestones. And, I can finally do this in a more practical way," Rith said, and some sort of prismatic armor appeared on her body.


    Evin could see that pieces of the armor resembled the energy that portals made.


    "Is that a portal armor?"


    "Yes! I will never have to worry about attacks hitting my body ever again. Obviously, a decent half-core World of Space mage could pose a threat, but as long as a Lesser-imposer doesn''t turn the area around me into a different World, I will be practically invincible in the half-core level," Rith said with glee.


    "That''s kinda amazing. When will I be able to replicate that?" Evin asked with wonder.


    The idea of a portal armor sounded more and more overpowered in his mind.


    "Perhaps you can do it after you be a lesser-imposer. If you were a Cosmic, you could probably do it when you''re a peak half-core like my brother, but that''s alone would cost you 70 percent of your concentration, allowing a very slight window for you to do other things," Rith exined.


    Hearing the Cosmic mention the mana-core, Evin remembered something and called out to Arza and Ssatsko.


    "Heye here, you two, I got something for you," Evin said with a smirk.


    Half an hourter, Arza had be a peak Quarter-core mage and Ssatsko''s horns had be bigger and shinier. There wasn''t much effect on Rith, since she was quite a strong mage in the first ce, but an increase was still an increase so she couldn''tin.


    The group then decided to focus on getting used to their new powers. Since Evin had just be a quarter-core mage, there were a lot of things he wanted to try out.


    After 10 minutes of training, Evin immediately noticed two negatives.


    First of all, were the increased emotional effects of the Worlds had on Evin. After he received his perk from Two Tales, Evin never had problems of emotions even when his mana-core was filled to the brim with World energies. Not to mention the fact that there was never a moment when Evin waspletely infused with one specific World, except of course, the Dark World.


    But after his new power-up, Evin could notice that the emotional effects were much stronger now,pared to before. It was simr to how Evin tried to cast spells without Two Tales'' perk.


    But since Evin was much more experienced now, there wasn''t a big problem. But what would happen if he became a half-core? Wouldn''t it be much harder than now? And what would happen when Evin reached the age of 15 and Two Tales'' perk stopped working? At that time, the effects of the Worlds would be ten times worse for most of the Worlds and 100 times worse for the Heavy World.


    Evin decided that he should start addressing this problem and actively searching for solutions, even temporary ones.


    The other negative aspect of it was Evin''s mana-core cirction period was much longer now. Before, Evin had to only wait 10 or so seconds, before his mana-core could recover from a big spell. But now Evin had to wait at least 50 seconds to be at full capacity. He could obviously cast smaller spells during that timepse, but it still hurt Evin to wait so long.


    The reason for this was because Evin''s mana-core became big too fast. Before, it got bigger and bigger naturally, so Evin could exercise it to keep up with the size increase, but this time Evin didn''t have any time to limatize his mana-core.


    But the problem could be easily solved over time, so Evin wasn''t worried. Andpared to the negatives, the benefits that Evin received were huge.


    Firstly, Evin couldst much longer in fights now that his capacity increased by 10 times. He could probably fly indefinitely now, but he was thinking that it was high-time to upgrade his floating spell.


    Evin had some ideas on how to go about it, but after thinking about his choices, he decided to visit a scroll-making shop to have Hector''s scroll identified. He would be able to understand the thought process of the mages on Alvox and see if he could improve it with knowledge from Earth.


    Talking about the Heavy World, Evin could make objects and himself heavier for longer times now. Moreover, he could maintain a spell that allowed Evin to change an object''s weight freely.


    Before, Evin could only switch from one weight to the other andmit to that weight. So, if Evin increased his or Karan''s weight while floating, he couldn''t return to being weightless immediately after. He had to hit someone hard and then attempt to connect abo, so he could finish the fight with that momentum.


    This lead to a problem with his spars with Arza, where if his initial heavy hit was blocked, or rendered useless somehow, he would be forced tomit to close-quarterbat, in which Arza was very adept. Evin would obviously try to create distance afterwards, but most of the time it didn''t work against an opponent like Arza.


    But now, he could easily fly away from Arza thanks to this new spell of his.


    As for the World of Thoughts, there was not much Evin could do aside from just training diligently. The illusions did not take that much mana to create, and the only thing gating Evin from creating better, or more realistic illusions, was Evin''s proficiency.


    Evin was currently working on countering the method to discern illusions in Unabach''s book for beginner mages, which applied an ability on the caster''s eye to see which object was made out of Thought energy. So, Evin''s current task was to create an illusion that could fool such abilities. Through this, Evin began to understand that bing better at Illusions meant to simply learn how to better deal with the various methods that were meant to discern illusions.

 Chapter 86: New Darkness

    Chapter 86: New Darkness


    For the World of Storms, Evin''s Air bullets were now more easily adjustable. Evin could make them sharper and more prative, or he could make the bulkier, with more raw power. But the World still retained its biggest problem, and problem was that it was much too weak against properly armored enemies. Sure, Evin could skewer someone who was without defense, but after fighting with so many people, he was understanding that more often than not, someone would have proper defensive methods.


    "My fighting style is not strange, or iprehensible enough, without the Dark World and the World of Thoughts," muttered Evin.


    His air bullets were invisible and numerous, but that was it. His blue me was threatening and scary for people who didn''t know about it, but that was it. With proper protection against fire, it could easily be countered. Even his illusions were getting quite stale.


    Arza was also simr in this regard. His simple set of moves was the reason why Evin could win against Arza in every spar. The boy was like a video-game boss, with only a set amount of moves. Sure, they were scary if the boy managed to make it work, but most of the time, Evin could predict what the boy was about to do and respond in the correct way.


    The boy''s making his sword shine with fire and light? Apply shades to your eyes with the Dark World and avoid the mes. The boy''s strengthening himself up with the World of Life? Harass him from afar and make the boy heavier, so he runs out of energy faster.


    But this didn''t mean that Arza''s way of fighting was wrong, per se. It just needed to reach a point where he would be too strong for others to handle.


    ''What''s that saying again? A thousand schemes are useless in the face of absolute power,'' Evin felt like he was remembering wrongly, but didn''t linger on it.


    If Arza became strong enough to indefinitely keep his strengthened state active, while also upgrading his healing and speed, then Evin would start having much more trouble with the spars. Simplicity had its own advantages.


    So, Evin had to think of a way to deal with a permanently strengthened Arza soon. It would surely not be hisst time facing such opponents.


    And Evin''s answer to this problem was to cheat. He developed a spell that was quite dirty. Evin simply had to remove every particle of air in one spot, effectively creating a vacuum.


    ''Well, when I think about it a bit more, there are probably many ways to counter it But against the unknowing opponent, it could be quite deadly,'' Evin concluded.


    Evin reckoned that one simply had to recreate air cirction around themselves with the World of Storms. But the momentary panic that might ensue was still worth the effort in Evin''s eyes.


    ''Oh, I don''t really have to outright create a vacuum. I just have to gradually decrease the amount significantly. An enemy in the heat of a battle would not be able to realize if the amount of air in the atmosphere suddenly thins out''


    And if Evin forced them to exert their bodies more, he could make them hypoxic in their lungs and heart, which would then start affecting their blood cirction slowly but surely weakening them from inside.


    ''Isn''t this technically some kind of aura ability?'' Evin was quite proud of this new tactic of his.


    Evin immediately started trying out his new spell. He created a maintainable spell that gathered the air in Evin''s immediate area around Evin himself. With the increase of the amount of oxygen that Evin was breathing in, he was more alert and energetic as well. And the mana consumption wasn''t that bad as well.


    Obviously, he had to worry about oxygen poisoning if he kept this up for too long, but since he was a mage that was rtively good at the World of Life, he was confident in being able to keep the negative aspects at bay.


    ''I should focus on creating more spells like these,'' Evin realized as he tested the effects of the spell on himself.


    In only five minutes, Evin was having difficulty breathing and feeling a headache. If this went on for long enough, Evin would start feeling wheezing and his skin would turn bluish. It was literally the same as being unable to breathe.


    Satisfied with his new capabilities, Evin continued onto his most powerful World.


    The Dark World.


    Immediately after trying out his previous spells, Evin could notice one thing. The area that his shadows could affect was muchrger than before. Before, Evin struggled to engulf a room that was half covered in shadows, but now, he could easily turn three such rooms dark using only his own shadow.


    Another thing that he noticed was that Evin could make these shadows thicker, somehow. These thick shadows were much darker than natural shadows and could absorb light much easier. When Evin engulfed himself in such shadows, he would stay invisible even when someone shone a light on him.


    Obviously, all of this would be much more effective in confined spaces, as out in the open, it would be pretty hard to hide in the darkness without walls.


    ''Wait, if Ick walls, can''t I just create one myself?'' Evin realized.


    He willed the thick shadows at the edge of his control to slowly rise up, like how they would engulf some objects in total darkness. But obviously, he couldn''t make it work after a single try. The wall copsed after persisting for some time. After an hour of testing, Evin had created another area-of-effect spell.


    This one would turn an area of ten steps around Evin intoplete darkness, with a still, shadowy wall as tall as two adult men surrounding it. The walls had a very weird quality to them, and it reminded Evin of tinted ss. From inside, anyone except Evin wouldn''t be able to see a thing, but from the outside, the area around Evin looked slightly dim, but the things inside were still visible, except of course, Evin, who had surrounded himself in his shadows. Evin decided to call it the Shadow Zone.


    ''Guess this is a poor man''s World Domain,'' Evin joked. A real lesser-imposer, or a super-imposer, would be able to superimpose their specializing World Domain in the main world, allowing for practically infinite energy in that spot, while not allowing every other World to exist at the same time.


    ''Well, when you think about it like that, it''s still quite far from being called a World Domain, huh?''


    One more perk Evin noticed was that he could see everything perfectly in this artificial darkness of his. Evin wasn''t sure if it was because of the World Sprites inside of him, or if Dark World mages would naturally develop this ability, but it was a very useful nheless.


    Evin was very happy with the Dark World''s utility, but the problem with this World was that it was a purely supportive/defensive type of World. Evin couldn''t attack others using it, he could only create an environment that was advantageous to Evin, while weakening the enemy.


    ''Well, it isn''t necessarily a bad thing, since apletely dark environment is quite difficult for enemies to navigate through,'' he thought. Especially when Evin made the shadows strong enough so that simply shining a bright light on it wouldn''t make it disappear But still, Evin wanted some sort of attacking capabilities.


    As if the Beast Lord''s blood heard its new host''s thoughts, it urged Evin to cast a spell with the blood''s will infused. Evin was startled with the sudden suggestioning from inside him, but he didn''t mind testing it out.


    Evin created the Shadow Zone around himself while letting the blood''s will run free inside it.


    An area around him turned toplete darkness, like it was supposed to, but when the spell created the walls, Evin could immediately notice something different about it. The shadowy mass on the ground and the walls were pulsating to the rhythm of Evin''s heartbeat, and there was something sinister about it. Like the shadows contained something unfathomable and arcane.


    Even the caster of the spell was startled by the change. As Evin was wondering what the Blood''s will did, a mental suggestion came from it: [Prey,].


    Evin didn''t know where he should find prey, but he had the perfect recement.


    "Hey Rith, can I test out a spell on you?" Evin asked the Cosmic.


    Rith was sitting in the same room as the boy, testing out her own spells, while ncing at what Evin was doing. Obviously, she too felt the sinister aura that Evin''stest spell was emitting.


    "Sure, I''m quite intrigued with your new spell, as well," Rith answered.


    Evin approached the Cosmic with his Shadow Zone active. The spell was made to be centered around Evin, so it followed him around. Rith could see the dim walls approaching her, pulsating rhythmically. Just as it engulfed her, her sensory organs started getting disoriented. She could still see the lights that were on the ceiling, but everything else, the floor, the walls and the objects inside the area was filled withplete darkness.


    But that was the least of her worries. Rith could clearly sense that these shadows were dangerous. There was something menacing crawling inside these shadows that could threaten her. She also felt like something was looking at her, with hunger and discontent. She prepared her World of Space energies and was ready to blink away at a moment''s notice.


    As she warily felt for any sounds or vibrations, a huge maw filled with dark fangs materialized under her. Just before the maw snapped, Rith had blinked a short distance away, but was immediately attacked by another two attacks. This time, it was a swipe of a w and the grasping motion of a tentacle-like thing.


    Even though it was impossible for quarter-core Dark mages to create material darkness, she instinctively knew that these constructs were real and could have seriously hurt her. She decided to take things a bit seriously and created the stronger Light spell her half-core could muster.


    A light so bright, that a drunk bystander would mistake for the sun appeared inside Evin''s Dark Spell. A quarter-core like Evin couldn''t possibly contend with a half-core''s mana output, as the light absorbing capabilities of Evin''s thick shadows were surpassed and Rith could see what was happening around her.


    Evin was covering his eyes, startled by the sudden light show, while an ensemble of horrifying creatures swam through the shadows he had created, with the sudden exposure to light. Eyes, jaws, ws, tentacles all manner of eldritch creatures were writhing in pain under Rith''s spell.

 Chapter 87: Living Dark

    Chapter 87: Living Dark


    The Blood''s will inside Evin begged him to cancel the spell and put it back in his shadows.


    "I give up!" Evin shouted to Rith, eyes clenched tightly.


    Rith, who calmed down after getting her vision back, canceled her spell and the Shadow Zone around Evin disappeared as well.


    Rith stopped floating andnded beside Evin. She noticed that she was out of breath somehow, but then she noticed that something was wrong with the air around her. She couldn''t notice it when her mind was preupied with the dangers that lurked inside Evin''s shadow, but since everything was over, she could sense that something was amiss.


    Evin, obviously, used his newly create World of Storms spell on the Cosmic as well.


    "I''m sorry about that. Something got the better of me, and I got a bit too serious at some point," Rith apologized.


    "It''s okay. I didn''t think that something like that was going to happen as well," Evin said.


    "What was that?" Rith asked with curiosity.


    "Apparently, the Beast Lord''s blood can give my shadows physical attributes," Evin began and exined the whole thing to Rith.


    Evin did not know what the Blood''s will had in mind, but after a while, shadowy figures started emerging from the ground all around Evin. Rith couldn''t see them, but since Evin had perfect vision in the dark, he could definitely make them out. The biggest one was the maw that attacked Rith at first, and that one was the Blood''s will. The other ws, eyes and tentacles were the World Sprites that resided inside Evin''s shadow.


    They also pulled out some of the jagged sorbothium metals from inside Evin''s shadow and used them as makeshift fangs and ws. They probably could''ve attacked without them, but obviously, being armed was much better than being unarmed.


    "So you were thinking of creating an offensive attack with the Dark World and the Blood''s will offered this solution for you?" Rith asked.


    "Something like that, I suppose"


    Rith pondered about Evin''s answer for a while and then asked.


    "Evin, what does darkness mean to you?"


    "I''ve thought about this for long time, but all I can say is that I''m not sure. I understand that you''re asking about what kind of special attributes my Dark spells have, but I''m very sure that mytest spell is mostly thanks to the World Sprites and the Blood''s will"


    "Well, I''d agree with you, usually but you must understand that a mage will never be able to recreate a special attribute that doesn''t suit them. But this shows us that you''re verypatible with the Vulpine Mother. Perhaps her special attributes work simrly to what yourst spell did," Rith exined.


    ''Does that mean that I think of darkness like my home? Or do I think of darkness like a living being? But I really don''t remember having thoughts like that'' Evin pondered.


    "Well, all in all, it''s a great addition to your powers But I suggest you refrain from using that spell with the Beast Lord Blood''s will anymore," Rith reminded.


    "Why?"


    "Let me ask you a question. What do you think the World of Space represents to me?"


    Evin thought about Rith''s specialties, but couldn''t quite think of any. She did everything a normal mage of the World of Space did, and she seemed quite well-rounded as well. She could easily blink, she could use her portals as an offensive method and a defensive method, with that portal armor of hers.


    "I''m not sure"


    "That''s because I never tried to apply what I think my specialty is to my spells. If I thought of the World of Space like my home, like most other Cosmics, perhaps my spells would start leaning on the controlling, or defensive side. Or if I thought that the World of Space was a great utility World like most humans do, my spells would start leaning towards transport or storage," Rith said.


    Evin nodded in response, waiting for Rith to continue.


    "But I never bother thinking about those things, since I need to be perfect at the basics before I start thinking about those kinds of things. If a mage starts leaning heavily to one thing from the beginning, like offense, all of their spells of that World start to be more and more one dimensional. After some point, the rest of their Worlds will also start leaning towards attacking. The mage would soon be unable to cast any spell that doesn''t have an offensive capability," Rith said.


    Evin never heard that one would be outright unable to cast their non-specialty abilities.


    "So I suppose it''s better to be more well-rounded than specializing in one thing?"


    "Generally, yes. Specialization is good if you''re part of a dedicated team If you''re confident in your teammate''s ability to protect you, you can lean towards offense as much as you wish. But that only works for mages who are trained from birth alongside a team. Most mages will need to depend on themselves at some point," Rith exined.


    "Well, when can I start specializing?"


    "Perhaps when you be a Lesser-imposer. Before that, just focus on your basics, yeah?" Rith finished.


    Evin was left wondering, but didn''t linger on it much longer. It was already three or four hours past midnight, as far as Evin could tell. It was still bright as day outside, because of the Sorbothium veins infused with the Luminous World energy.


    The next morning, or noon, should we say, Ssatsko took Evin and Arza, to bring them to the Artificer he was talking about.


    Going through the city, Evin could see many different people curiously eyeing the red-haired Arza as they walked past. Evin was more inconspicuous, since ck hair wasn''t as rare in the North as red.


    It was a calming experience,pared to walking through the City of Smog. No one trying to rob you, no one eyeing your possessions greedily, and no one looking at you with jealousy.


    ''But what''s with the big contrast between the two cities?'' Evin couldn''t help but ponder.


    With Kena''s authority and powers, surely he could''ve created a better environment on the City of Smog.


    As Evin was thinking about these things, the group reached their destination. Ssatsko opened the door to the ce and Evin saw a luxurious interior with a variety of items line up in disy. There were another group of people inside that Evin recognized.


    "Oh, hello master Hector," Evin said to the familiar one horned man among them.


    "Greetings, Evin," the man had seen the neers in the shop so there was no dy in his response.


    "Buying a new channeling artifact?" Evin asked. Parvan''s old one was with Arza, after all.


    "Something like that Hmm, seems you''ve gotten stronger?" Hector asked after ncing at Evin for a bit.


    "A bigshot took a fancy in me and helped me reach the peak quarter-core stage," Evin exined.


    Parvan, who was listening from behind his brother''s back, felt his hopes of revenge shattering before his eyes. If he couldn''t beat Evin when thetter was at the beginner stage, then he definitely wouldn''t be able to do it whenmoner mage reached the peak quarter-core stage.


    ''How do you jump from peak beginner to peak quarter in a three weeks anyway? What kind of person has so much resources?'' Parvan thought.


    For Parvan himself, he had to bathe in a World of Earth infused water for a week straight to be a 3 cm (1.2 inch) quarter-core mage. Which meant his maximum capacity was 5 kg (11 lbs) of mana.


    The price of a Core shard and the process of liquidizing it for the bath was so much that even Parvan noticed the decrease of riches in the house.


    Evin, who noticed the young noble in thought, called out to him.


    "Hello, young master Parvan, how were your travels?" Evin''s way of speaking turned extremely polite,pared to how he was speaking with Hector.


    "It''s been well, but I''m sorry, I must choose the specs of my new channeling artifact," Parvan said and steered his face to the items that were disyed in front of him..

 Chapter 88: Catching people naked

    Chapter 88: Catching people naked


    Evin smiled at the child''s behavior. At least he wasn''t as overbearing as before. He walked up to the shopkeeper, who seemed to be a young woman in her pre-20s.


    "I wanted to buy a channeling artifact, could you instruct me on them?"


    "What Worlds do you use, child?" the shopkeeper asked, amused with how fast the noble boy changed his behavior when this neer came in.


    ncing at the new kid, she thought inside her head: ''Thoughts, Dark, and maybe Fire or Water''


    "Dark, Thoughts, Heavy and Storms,"


    "Quite a lot of Worlds there, ain''t it? And moreover, Heavy is quite a rare choice, so you''ll have to wait for a custom one to be made," The shopkeeper replied.


    "How long will that take?"


    "About a week or so. But more importantly, everything will cost you 1800 gold if you want top quality stuff, is that fine? And just to be clear, we don''t ept haggles here," the shopkeeper said.


    ''Guess Rith wasn''t lying when she said that Channeling artifacts were expensive as hell. Doesn''t that mean I gave Arza a 900 gold artifact?'' Evin''s eyebrows creased.


    "What''s the difference between low-quality and top quality?" Evin asked.


    The shopkeeper pulled out a sample top-quality artifact. It was shaped like a gauntlet, and there were two pebble-sized sorbothium orbs on it. One ck and one silver. The shopkeeper inhaled a big breath in preparation to start her exnation.


    "The biggest difference is the amount of energy that you can store in it. For the top-quality ones, each sorbothium orb can store up to 500 kgs (1102 lbs) worth of mana, and obviously, wille inside a specialized artifact body. The carrier is basically a World of Space storage device that has space to store mana-lodestones and has a weight nullifying engraving on it. It requires only 5 kg of mana to stay functional for the whole day! It also doesn''t have to be activated all the time, so if you know when you''re about to fight, and activate it at that time only, it will cost practically nothing," the shopkeeper said in one breath. She took another and continued.


    "The artifact body also has a function simr to Lodestone storage devices, where it can naturally charge the lodestones inside. Moreover, if the fight ends before you finished the amount of mana you stored, you will not have to waste the mana inside the channeling artifact, like you would with other simr artifacts. The artifact will automatically extract the World energies inside the orbs and redirect them to the lodestones. And everything is super easy to use, you just have to put in the mana lodestones in the artifact''s storage space and it will automatically put them where they need to be and you can choose the amount of mana to put inside each orb with a single thought! But the best part this that you can bind the item to your Oath and if you ever lose it, or someone takes it from you, you can simply will it and it wille back to you!"


    ''I can''t believe this little thing can store 500 kgs worth of mana inside it. Well, when I be a peak half-core mage, I will have a heart that can store 100 kgs (220 lbs) of mana in it. How does that even work?'' Evin thought.


    The shopkeeper took Evin''s pondering face as one of defeat and started exining how lower-quality artifacts were made.


    "As for lower-quality artifacts, it will depend on your own choice. You can remove or weaken the features you think you won''t need from the top-quality one and depending on what feature you chose, we can calcte the final price for you," she finished her exnation.


    "I''ll choose the top-quality one with every attachment, thanks. And also, could you leave maybe three or four empty sockets inside it, for when I learn other Worlds in the future?" Evin said with a calm face.


    Silence ensued in the shop as everyone other than Rith and Arza stared at Evin with shock. A brief momentter, the shopkeeper asked Evin warily.


    "I must ask you to bring out the money first, please be understanding"


    "Do you have a bank ount for the Cosmic bank?" Evin asked.


    "Oh, we do," the shopkeeper replied. Any business that dealt withrge amounts of money had dealings with the Cosmics. So, obviously, this shop that dealt with hundreds of gold per product had a bank ount.


    "Then I shall send you half the payment now and the rest of it after I receive the product, is that fine?" Evin asked.


    "That would be great, yes"


    Evin called Rith and was finished with the transaction in a few minutes. The shopkeeper did not question the legitimacy of the Cosmic, as she knew how heavy the punishments for a Cosmic whomitted frauds were. She even thought that their Oath had a use that addressed fraudulence.


    Theck of need to carry around huge amounts of money and the ease of doing transactions increased the onlookers'' interest in banks.


    Then, the shopkeeper invited Evin to the workshop, so the artificer could take his measurements, with Rith following behind them.


    "Master Lorn? A customer needs measurement," the shopkeeper announced from behind the door.


    "Ain''t one of the samples fitting him? I''m quite busy here, Rona," a man''s voice replied.


    "Well, you''re probably going to be even more busy afterwards. We got an order for a top-quality artifact with four Worlds," Rona said.


    "What? Where the hell are these rich bastards appearing from?" Evin could hear the man grumbling from behind the door as footsteps sounded.


    The door opened and Evin could see a Cobfolk wearing nothing but some underclothing that barely covered his private parts. It was the first time Evin saw the naked body of a Cobfolk. Darkish pale skin, that looked glossy and hard, like stic and the three arms that ufortably protruded from their sides. On their chests, several thin slits opened and closed. Evin guessed that that was where they breathed.


    But the most disturbing part were their faces. Eight glossy eyes, unmoving and wet, and two huge upper fangs that practically reached their necks. Evin could also see some human like teeth and a tongue in the Cobfolk''s mouth. They didn''t have noses, as they breathed directly through their lungs.


    ''My fucking heart,'' Evin thought. Just because Evin was old, it didn''t mean that he wasn''t disgusted or scared.


    "Wear your goddamn clothes! Didn''t I make you wear them 10 minutes ago?!" Rona shouted and went past the man, picked up a cloak on the ground and threw it over the man. She also picked up the man''s mask and forced him to wear it, ignoring the man''s passionate protests.


    A few minutester, everything had settled and Evin was having his arm measured by the Cobfolk.


    After hearing the two''s interactions, Evin could kind of guess the two had quite a close rtionship. The Cobfolk didn''t seem to be one that''s old either, maybe in their thirties or even twenties...


    "Four Worlds and a Top-quality Artifact body Moreover, you''re only four or five years old. How much are you charging this kid, again?" the Cobfolk asked.


    "Eighteen hundred," Rona answered.


    "I suppose that''s fair enough. Hey kid, tell you what. For an extra fifty, I can make it so that your artifact grows bigger with your arm. How about that? It''s also going to be much lighter as well," Master Lorn asked Evin.


    Evin didn''t mind and nodded in response.


    "Well then, it''s settled. You cane back in a week and your artifact should be ready," Lorn said.


    A few minutester, Evin was out of the shop, walking towards a scroll making one.


    "I suppose you were right, when you said that Channeling artifacts were goddamn expensive," Evin spoke to Rith.


    "I was actually talking about mostmon ones. Nothing like that monstrosity you just bought," Rith replied.


    "Now I only have 150 gold, I hope it''s enough to buy some good scrolls"


    "Scrolls aren''t that expensive, you just need a special paper and a drawing on top. Most of the pricees from the spell''s rarity and the amount of mana required to fuel it," Rith reassured.


    "So with 150 golden coins, I can at most buy a lesser-imposer spell?"


    "No, those things are only for lesser-imposers or super-imposers. Us weaklings can only have weapons suited for us," Rith scoffed at Evin''s carefree thoughts.


    "Well, I can dream. I have all this money and nothing to spend it on. The magical device shops aren''t open until I finish the horn ceremony and no books until then as well," Evinmented.


    "Well, for the time being, saving it up is probably the best solution for you. Who knows what your going to need them in the future for?" Rith said.


    "Are you sure? Wait, I suppose you''re right. The channeling artifact cost me almost 2k gold Hmm, what''s the most expensive thing you bought?" Evin asked with curiosity.


    "Well, it''s not one thing, exactly, but I suppose all the money I spent trying to increase my mana-core? Probably dumped 160k gold into this stupid heart of mine," Rith said.


    Hearing the number, Evin''s face started paling.


    ''Maybe I need to find another way of finding money''


    "Ah, you don''t have to worry about that. Since you''re the kingdom and the North''s Oathtaker, you''ll probably get your mana-core increased through contributions. For us, making money is contributions, so we have the most expensive method of getting stronger. But for you, even if you were shitting gold bricks, it would be useless at some point. You will need to serve the country to get some benefits back," Rith exined.

 Chapter 89: Better airborne

    Chapter 89: Better airborne


    "By the way, why are the Cosmics so focused on collecting money, in the first ce?" Evin wanted to ask this question for a long time.


    "We''re not really sure. It''s been like this for as long as I can remember. But if I have to give a reason, money was the most efficient way of taking over the World?" Rith cocked her head.


    "Wait, you''re trying to take over the world?" Evin asked with a shocked face.


    ''Well, that camepletely out of the blue''


    "Who isn''t? Even the North, who advocates peace, likes to take part in some matters personally, since some countries like the South aren''t upholding their peace-loving doctrines. Guess you could say that they''re trying force the world to be like them, or something," Rith shrugged.


    "Wouldn''t it be faster if they just, you know, take over the World, if they wanted to do that?"


    "Well, yeah, but they''ll definitely meet thebined resistance of the three countries. Most likely, the Layeq will be tasked with tying their hands, while the West and the South will be in charge of attacking them," Rith said.


    "I''ve always wanted to ask this, but why don''t the three countries mount an attack on the South?"


    "Well, first of all,plete annihtion of a country is extremely difficult to pull off. It''s not like the Southerners are weaklings as well. Some of the races there, like the colossi, they have the strongest base specspared to the other races. Add magic on top of it, and it gets even worse," Rith began.


    "On top of that, The North doesn''t want to mount a unified attack, since they most likely won''t be able to get anything substantial from the attack. Even after they seed, they''ll get some of the upper areas of the North, while the West and East share most of the territory. They will probably agree if the West and East decide to act as the vanguard, which will most likely not happen, since the two countries would not wish to leave the backside open for the North"


    "Guess it all bnces out in some weird way, huh?"


    "Yep, and the wars with the South aren''t all negatives in the first ce. Most of the South''s soldiers are expendable Myrmis, so it works as a pretty good real battle training for the new soldiers. I heard that Aran used to be a thin, schrly mage, but after he went to the war, he got much buffer and manlier than before, right?" Rith said.


    "Myrmis? The ant people, right?" Evin heard the term before from his father, but never had the chance to ask for more details.


    "Yes, you''re right. Like normal ants, they have a queen that gives birth to hundreds of them in a month and the Colossi and Griffins use them to grind out the Kingdom''s resources,"


    ''And the South still sends those Myrmis to war, because the damage they can do is undeniable But if I had an army like that, I''d likely use them for manualbor, instead of throwing their lives away but perhaps they''re hard to feed?'' Evin could only think about the Myrmis for a few seconds before they found the Scroll-making shop that Rona rmended to them.


    Entering the shop, Evin found that this one was much simplerpared to the Artificer''s luxurious shop. Stacks and stacks of round scroll holsters filled the walls, and the smell of ink and paper would give the ce a cozy feeling. There were no other customers in the shop this time, only young teenage boy who looked to be around 12 was sitting behind a counter.


    "Wee to our shop! How can I help you?" the boy asked, noticing the neers.


    "I wanted to have a scroll appraised, so you can tell me what spells were used and how," Evin asked. He didn''t ask Hector directly, as he felt that it was a bit rude. And he was going to a Scroll-making shop, anyway, since it was one of the few magical shops that he could ess.


    "Oh, you''vee to the right ce! Let me have a look at the scroll," the boy said.


    Evin didn''t waste time and pulled out the scroll from his storage device. The boy took the scroll and scrutinized it with gleaming eyes.


    "This one is not a professionally made scroll, but it''s still pretty well done. Let me show you a simr one that we''ve created," the boy said and pulled out another scroll from somewhere.


    Evin looked at the two scrolls side by side and could see some simrities on them.


    "They''re both floating spells, so they look quite simr, but here are the differences. Your scroll focuses mostly on flight time and speed. You can tell with all the speed, air resistance and stability runes in the scroll. This means that it''s either used to cross arge distance or to run away from some ce. Sure, there''re some essentials like runes for sharp turning and such, but the scroll''s strongest point isn''t on that," the boy slowly exined, as he pointed out at the relevant parts with his fingers.


    "Now our scroll, on the other hand, is more focused on maneuverability. First of all, our scroll does not remove your weightpletely, opting to leave some weight and some inertia alongside it. It''s amon misconception to think that being weightless is much better for movement, but tell me, don''t you feel extremely bad when you do a sharp turn when you''re flying around? That''s because the organs inside you aren''t just used to having zero inertia. It''s much better to leave some weight so your movement in the air feels natural," the boy exined.


    Evin could personally rte to the words of the boy, and the problems he listed urred quitemonly. It was practically impossible to do a full stop while floating at considerable speeds and doing a sharp turn would more often than not hurt your body in the process.


    "The other thing that our scroll does differently are the jets that propel you to move around while you''re floating. Since you''re left with some slight weight on your body, there will be 16 main jet cannons around your body facing towards 16 directions, blowing air slightly downwards. Probably the mostmonly used jet cannon will be the ones that are facing towards your back, so their maximum powers are much stronger than the rest. There will also be a few supporting jet cannons on your limbs, neck and back, designed to put you in the correct posture, if you ever find yourself in an awkward state while flying around"


    Evin really liked this feature. When he was first trying out the floating spell, there were many times when he would get stuck upside down, or his feet and hands would be left in a weird state. It still happens to him sometimes, when he sparred with either Ssatsko or Arza, since sometimes they move so fast and Evin has to maneuver in ways that are ufortable to him.


    "But I understand that you''re trying to recreate the spell in your own way, so you won''t ever need to use a scroll in the first ce, right?" the boy asked, noticing Evin''s reactions.


    Thetter nodded, as he could guess that there were probably many others like him, who wanted to recreate the effects of a scroll themselves.


    "Well, I can apply a Thought Imprint on our scroll One that will help you understand the nitty-gritty details of the spell inside the scroll much better, what do you say?" the teen asked with a business smile.

 Chapter 90: Final revolution

    Chapter 90: Final revolution


    "How much would that cost?" Evin asked.


    "It''s a low-end half-core spell, when one thought about the mana costs that are used to maintain it, so the cost is only 9 gold, give or take a few bronze coins. But if we add the World of Thought spell on it, it bes 59 gold. You might say that it''s a bit expensive, but you must understand that we''re basically helping you so that you will never have to buy this scroll again in the future," the boy exined.


    Evin didn''t have a reason to refuse, as his primary way of moving about had be the floating spell.


    After a few minutes of staring at the boy show off his calligraphy skills, Evin had received a brand new scroll alongside his old one. ording to the boy, it would take about 5-6 days of practicing for Evin to learn about the contents of the scroll fully. It was perfect for Evin, since he also had to wait a week for his channeling artifact to be finished.


    Evin noticed that Arza was also looking at some scroll intently, so he offered to buy it for him. He was feeling high from spending his money, so his mood was very good.


    Evin also didn''t mind splurging on Arza, since he might''ve died at the hands of Norna, if Aran and Liza didn''t help out his family when they were in need.


    At the end of it, Evin had 32 gold left over and the group went back to Kena''s house. As they walked through the streets, they couldn''t notice that there were a pair of eyes cautiously stalking their every move.


    In one of the inn rooms located inside the City of Nevernight, two men sat silently, warily eyeing the residents on the street through their open windows. Since the city was located underground, the weather would usually stay warm most of the time, so most of the houses and buildings didn''t have ss windows.


    One of the men wore ragged clothing, with a featureless mask covering his faces. He was holding a pendant that showed a symbol depicting a big star, with a dozen or so smaller stars surrounding it.


    The other did not wear a mask, but a cloak that covered most of his face in shadows. He faced the window, as his hands yed around with a silver dagger.


    Soon after, the door to the room opened and a female figure came in. The neer wore a tight-fitting wool hose and shirt, alongside a ndly painted chest armor with a simrly nk mask.


    "Li''shal, you''vee," one of the men said.


    "Lock this room," said the neer, Li''shal, and one of the men created a World of Storms barrier around the open window and the door.


    "Well, what do you think?" one of them men asked.


    "They just went shopping for a bit, bought a channeling artifact and two scrolls. Couldn''t hear what the scrolls were for, but they looked like utility ones. Afterwards, they went to the owner''s ce," the woman answered.


    "Are you sure they were the ones who killed our men?" the hooded man asked, as he pulled back his hood. A handsome blonde appeared from under the hood.


    "Zantis, you doubt me? I can recognize the smell of our own, even after it had decayed on a soul of a stranger for decades. This one is still quite fresh, probably happened two years ago. There''s no room for mistake," the masked man said in a threatening tone.


    "Hor''rak, No But from what I can see, this doesn''t seem to be an easily executable vengeance mission. The Cosmic is obviously a half-core, and the two children had also be peak quarter-cores. Not to mention the twin-horn," Zantis said.


    "So what? We''re all half-cores here, you''re saying we''ll have trouble against two greenhorns and a cat?" the man named Hor''rak said.


    "That''s not the only problem, they''re obviously guests of Lord Kena. And judging from how long they''ve been staying there, I don''t think it''s one of his normal guests," Zantis exined.


    "Don''t call that disgusting man a Lord. The old fucker''s probably just taking his time picking through their brains for whatever thing he found interesting in it," Hor''rak snarled.


    "I know you don''t like the man, but we all know he can put the Final Rebellion in an extremely precarious situation if we ever act out of line and pull his attention," Zantis reminded.


    Hearing that their organization might be affected, Hor''rak calmed down a bit.


    "Any news from our handlers?" Li''shan asked.


    "There was It seemed that it was quite easy to find, since they''re quite a unique bunch. Most likely, they killed our team that was sent to capture one of the revived test subjects, one named Karan, that ended up on one of the Northern counties of the kingdom after dying. It was a team lead by someone named shin. In one of his weekly reports, he mentioned a Child of the Empress who was apanied by a Cosmic," Zantis recited.


    "Then, do they know of the test subject?"


    "We''re not sure. Thest report from shin said that their team was about to head into a nearby forest, since none of the children in the town seemed to be the test subject. Their handlers requested for backup and another team was sent to the forest, but they weren''t able to find the bodies. I suppose they couldn''t afford to send a Soulsniffer like Hor''rak here. And since there weren''t any signs that we were found out, Headquarters seemingly decided that the Soulbound Oath did its job," Zantis answered.


    "And what''s their orders?"


    "They want us to decide ourselves. Our main mission still takes precedence, but it''s still a long time before we''re needed," Zantis exined.


    "I think that we should kill them. From what I know, Kena never interferes with someone he has traded with. After he takes what he needs, he will let his guests stay at his perfect city for a while. But after they leave the underground city and emerge on the surface city, he wouldn''t give two shits even if the whole City of Smog tries to rob his "guests"," Hor''rak said.


    "Well, we only met that group identally, and even if they''ve met this Karan, they seem to only know peanuts. I don''t want to risk our situation for an unnecessary vengeance. We can do that after the our mission goal is achieved," Li''shan said.


    "And what?! Leave those murderers of our kin to leave without paying?!" Hor''rak raged.


    "I understand your emotions, but I also don''t wish to mess with that party. The risk is too much for whatever the benefit we''re going to receive," Zantis sighed in annoyance as he replied.


    "You only talk about benefits, when will you actually start thinking about the Rebellion?!" Hor''rak spoke.


    "Listen here, dumbass, if you couldn''t guess from the name, we''re a fucking Rebellion, we''re not supposed to exist in the eyes of the four countries. You understand that if the official organizations find out about us, they''ll do everything in their power to destroy us, right? I don''t know about you, but I don''t want to be the first to leak out information about the Final Rebellion. Use your fucking brain for once, yeah?" Zantis berated the masked man.


    "In a group of three, unless ordered by the higher-ups, decisions are made by the majority. Since it is two against one, we leave the kids be," Li''shan said.


    "Fine" replied Hor''rak unwillingly.


    "I''ll tell our handler, then," Zantis said and took out a device, which emitted a silverish hue. His face becamepletely expressionless, only a blurry silver shape could be seen instead. Zantis stayed like that for a few minutes until his silver hue soon disappeared and the man came back to himself with ragged breath.


    "Seems it''s your lucky day, Hor''rak. New orders, they''re sending a "Revolutionary" for the vengeance mission," Zantis said while panting.

 Chapter 91: Robbery in daylight

    Chapter 91: Robbery in daylight


    A week had passed since then, and Evin was waiting inside the Artificer''s shop for his new equipment.


    Rona, beaming with the prospect of a huge ie, brought out Evin''s own personal Channeling artifact.


    Evin looked at the device and saw a small fingerless brigandine-type gauntlet. He put it on, and the gauntlet almost reached his elbows. There were four colored metals embedded inside the gauntlet, lining up throughout Evin''s forearm. Best part was, that it waspletely weightless. Only the icy touch of steel reminded Evin that he was wearing a metal instrument on his arms.


    "As you grow older, you can will the parts from your forearm to move downwards, until they all end up on the back of your palm. You can try them out now, and see,'' Rona exined.


    Evin willed it as Rona instructed, and the small metal sheets of the thing slithered around and the thin, long gauntlet turned into a much bulkier glove.


    ''It would probably fit Ssatsko''s arms now''


    "I suggest you get used to the thing, before you try it out in a fight. Somepare it to a second mana-core, and it takes some time to really feel it, yeah?" Rona reminded.


    "Thanks Rona, and thank master Lorn for me as well," Evin replied.


    "You too, child, us shopkeepers love rich customers. If you ever need fixing, or extra gems on that thing, make sure youe back to ours, alright?" Rona smiled happily.


    Evin nodded in response.


    The group went out of the shop and headed back to Kena''s ce and prepared for the journey ahead.


    A day passed in the blink of an eye and Evin had gotten used to the feel of his gauntlet.


    Evin wished to say Lord Kena goodbye, but was stopped at the door to his study by Iorn.


    "Lord Kena asked me to not have anyone disturb him"


    Evin didn''t feel offended and asked Iorn to ry his goodbyes to the old Cobfolk.


    Ssatsko exined that the group had finished everything they needed to do here, in the City of Nevernight. One of his original intentions was to buy some refined sorbothium, after Evin took the Oath, but that became a bit useless, since Lord Kena gave away much more than they could''ve bought.


    "Now, we''ll head towards the Ekhri Tribe and spend the rest of our time there," Ssatsko exined.


    "Ekhri Tribe?" Arza asked.


    "Guess it means something like the Caretaker Tribe, they''re one of the few branch tribes of the Paradra Tribe. Well, as you can probably guess, their teachings are mostly focused towards younger mages" Ssatsko exined.


    The group didn''t have any objections and they prepared to ascend the stairs.


    "Oh, I should probably mention, some residents of the City above mighte to find trouble with us," Ssatsko said suddenly.


    "Hm?"


    "Since quite a number of people saw that you stayed in the Lord''s manor, their greed might cause them to try to rob us," the old man said.


    "Guess we should be prepared a little then," Evin said and woke up Karan inside him.


    [Best you wake up, there might be battle,] Evin told.


    [Where the fuck are we? Why is it so dark?] the skinshifter groaned from Evin''s shadow.


    [We''re ascending to the City of Smog. Ssatsko says that some greedy bastards might try to steal your stash of sorbothium,] Evin said with a chuckle.


    Karan grumbled with frustration and got out of the coziness that was Evin''s shadow. He turned himself into an armor and dagger, and Evin covered the metal body with shadows. The silvery hue that Karan took ontely due to the plentiful infusion of sorbothium disappeared. Now, Evin looked to be wearing a badly maintained, ck iron armor.


    Evin then wore his Channeling artifact, and started infusing some mana inside it as he walked the stairs.


    He also ate the World Chameleon skin at the insistence of Rith.


    The group reached the sturdy iron door on the surface and Evin could finally see the rays of sunlight across the corridor. Judging from the angle it was falling on the floor, Evin supposed it was morning. Ssatsko assured it was so, but Evin could never tell under the light of the sorbothium veins.


    "Would you like to hire escorting guards?" one of the guards who stood beside the iron door asked with a knowing smile.


    "It won''t be necessary. Though, thank you for the suggestion," Ssatsko answered.


    "Your choice, we''ll stay round here if you ever change your mind," the guard shrugged.


    The old man nodded and lead the group to the door. Before exiting, he turned to the two children.


    "Arza, Evin,"


    "Yeah?" the two asked, cocking their heads.


    "Try not to kill anyone," Ssatsko said with a grim half-smile.


    ''?'' Evin was genuinely confused. If the problem''s so bad, just avoid itpletely.


    "If it''s that bad, let''s just have Rith portal us out of here, yeah?"


    Ssatsko paused for a second and agreed.


    "I suppose I''m too used to solving things the hard way," the old man shook his head with a bitter smile.


    ''Wait, does he just want to tussle a little with those barbarians outside?'' Evin realized after seeing a tinge of embarrassment and disappointment in the old man''s eyes.


    ''Well now, this is a pickle They did say indulge the old in what they love to do sometimes,'' Evin thought with some amusement.


    "You know, grandpa, I''ve been wanting to try out my new skillstely, on like, real targets you know? A mad mob of people wanting to rob us seem to be perfect targets, now that I think about it," Evin said, trying hold back aughter.


    "Oh, you think so too, I''ve been also itching to move my body for a while," Ssatsko said with a beaming smile.


    After the old man touched the Velvet Contract, he finally felt his raw power increase in a long time. His horn was noticeablyrger than before, and Evin could see him sometimes struggling to move his head with it.


    ''I wonder how my horn would shape itself,'' Evin thought briefly, before focusing on the impending fight.


    "Can I leave Arza to you?" Evin then asked Rith.


    Everyone except Arza in the group would not lose their cool even if a bloodbath were to ur, so Evin decided to have Rith babysit the boy. The Cosmic nodded and the unusual group went outside.

 Chapter 92: Four mages

    Chapter 92: Four mages


    Just as Ssatsko expected, greedy eyes stared at the group like a pack of hungry hyenas.


    It did not take long for a massive street brawl to ur. The guards who were supposed to stop things like these from urring were simply watching from the sidelines, betting on which side would win.


    It might have looked quite precarious from outside, but in all honesty, there were no real dangers to the group, as practically all of the assants weremon people. Mages, Twin-hornmoners and even horn-bearers were a rare breed and even if one was born in the City of Smog, they would promptly be sent underground alongside their family, where street brawls were as rare as someone down there going hungry.


    Mages, or Horn bearers who had ess to the World of Life and could harden their skin like Arza and Ssatsko would never get hurt even if someone hit them from behind their head with an iron sword. Though, obviously, such things would still hurt them, so they would rather avoid getting hit like that.


    Arza and Ssatsko both got much more powerful than before. Arza was basically an untiring machine, with his casual swings breaking some unlucky men''s face and limbs. Evin didn''t see the boy use any other World other than the World of Life during this little fight.


    The boy''s justice instinct was supposedly in y, as the boy gazed at his attackers with zeal and fervor. Evin never understood how the boy developed such an extreme personality. Some of the people he attacked had their bodies broken so badly, they would most likely die in the next week.


    But the lives that he had taken did not seem to affect the boy himself, as he zealously started targeting his next attacker.


    ''Well, I guess it beats getting robbed,'' Evin thought, but then started wondering how the boy turned out this way.


    ''Just look at Aran and then look at Arza, who can say that they''re father and son? Perhaps the justice sidees from Liza?''


    Compared to the boy, Ssatsko was much more precise with his powers. The old man had also be much stronger, as Evin could see him using the World energies much more abundantly. After Ssatsko had his horn increased, its energy storage had beparable to an average quarter-core mage. Coupled with his vast experience, the old man was a menace on the battlefield.


    ''I never knew my grandfather had this kind of side to him. I always thought that him and Purzo were the pr opposites, but it turns out that they were both the battle-thirsty type,'' Evin thought.


    ''Well, I couldn''t really call him battle-thirsty What''s the right word? Battle-eager?''


    As for Evin himself, there was no one who darede close to him. They couldn''t really, as Evin had turned an area around himselfpletely devoid of air. Anyone who got close would find that they were unable to breathe and frightfully turn away. Rith was inside this ring of death, as well, staring at Arza, ready to intercept if anything happened.


    asionally, someone would throw a knife or a stone at the two, but with Evin''s increased focus thanks to the excess oxygen and Karan looking out for his back, the assants would have a hard time hitting anything.


    And if Evin would see some people gathering up stones to bombard them, he would swiftly take care of them, using a few air bullets. His spells weren''t anything deadly, just a few soft brushes against their eyes.


    "Is this the spell you used on me when we were testing out your new Dark spell?" Rith asked.


    "Yes, that one wasn''t as extreme as this one, but the principles are the same," Evin answered.


    The two were slowly walking towards the city gates, while also leading the other two who wrecked havoc among their lessers.


    One would think that the assants would stop after seeing the disparity in strength, but Evin could see the desperation in the people''s eyes and a slight hope that they might end up slightly better than yesterday if they were somehow sessful with this reckless attack of theirs.


    "Do you know why Lord Kena chooses to keep the two cities so contrasting?" Evin asked.


    "Who knows? Perhaps it''s a way of keeping one group happy at the expense of others?"


    "Killing the chickens to scare the monkey, huh?" Evin muttered.


    "What?"


    "It means making an example out of someone to threaten the others. Perhaps the residents of the underground city are threatened to be exiled above, if they act out of line," Evin concluded.


    It wasn''t a new idea. Prisons and prisoners are usually vilified in such a way so that free citizens would try their best to stay legit. It was basically the same concept here, except much more open and direct. Also, the prisoners here were all free to do whatever they wanted, provided that they were able to make it work.


    Eventually, the group reached the gates, with Ssatsko and Arza, satisfied with the physical exercise they had just done. Although the exercise was at the expense of a couple hundred broken bodies, it was still exercise, nheless.


    ''Technically,'' Evin smirked in his head.


    The group went through the gateway without problems, and Rith took out their carriage. For some reason, no one from the city attacked the group after they''ve left through the city gates.


    Evin felt that it was quite weird, but didn''t linger on it for long. Evin didn''t bother deactivating his Channeling Artifact, since they could still be ambushed outside the city.


    The carriage went on for little while, before Arza suddenly warned the group of something.


    "I have a very weird feeling like someone strong is looking at me," the boy said suddenly.


    ''Are you an animal or something?'' Evin thought inside, but decided that it wouldn''t hurt to listen to the boy''s suggestion.


    "What do you think?" he asked Rith.


    "Let me check," the Cosmic said, and began to cast a spell. But just as she began, an unknown voice interrupted her.


    "Don''t bother," it said and a group of four appeared before the group out of thin air.


    Evin could see two men, one woman and an almost teenage boy materialize in his vision. All of them wore clothes thatpletely covered their bodies and wore a featureless mask. There were no eye slits or any breathing canals on the mask, giving away its magical nature.


    "You lot! Take off your valuables and give them to me this instant! I don''t need to tell you what happens if you fail toply, right?" the teenage boy shouted in a forceful voice. He held one of his hands at his hips and used the other to point at Evin''s group. Pride and arrogance were oozing from his demeanor.


    The other three stood silently, giving off an eerie feeling. Evin subconsciously touched the ring that Iorn had gifted them.


    ''Since they''re all masked, they don''t want to reveal their origins but I suppose they were a guest in the City of Nevernight who saw us purchasing stuff, huh?'' Evin reasoned. He nced at Rith and saw her frowning slightly.


    Evin usually used Rith''s expressions to gauge the opponent''s strength. If she knew what kind of mages the group was facing, she would clearly express it through her expressions and bodynguage.


    ''Since she''s frowning with uncertainty, most of these enemies must be half-cores. The boy should be a quarter-core or something''


    "Lord Mage, we''re naught but lucky travelers who had something Lord Kena had interest in. It''s been-" Evin began talking to buy some time, but the teenage boy suddenly stopped acting like an entitled young master anymore. It was quite weird, since the boy''s bodynguage suddenly made aplete 180.


    The teenage boy slouched slightly and pointed at Evin''s group with his chin.


    "It''s done, kill them," he said.

 Chapter 93: Trump Cards

    Chapter 93: Trump Cards


    Immediately the three mages attacked the group. The female seemed to be a World of Earth mage, as she dashed in and the ground rumbled with huge stonence heads appearing from underground, trying to impale them.


    Thankfully, the group was prepared for a fight so none were hit by the sudden assault. But the attack didn''t stop there, as thence heads turned into countless pellets and followed after them.


    Evin did not bother to hide anything in this dire situation and had Karan turn into a full body armor. He could hear the metal nking at the sound of pellets hitting it, but didn''t bother thinking about it too much and hurriedly looked at Rith and the rest.


    Usually, it would be a terrible mistake to take one''s eyes off the enemy, but the Cosmic was a walking get-out-of-jail-free card, so Evin''s first priority was to get close to her.


    The Cosmic looked shocked as her spell seemed to fumble slightly.


    "We can''t get out, we have to fight! Kill the three adults! Hurry!" Rith shouted. The capability of the teenage boy frightened her greatly, but she was still calm enough to make the best possible calls.


    ''The kid must be a peak half-core or even a lesser-imposer strong in the World of Space. It takes some time for him to finalize the lockdown, so we have to hurry in killing the others!'' Rith judged.


    Evin heard the Cosmic''s judgement and was slightly startled, but instantly focused his attention on the enemies.


    The boy seemed to stay put for whatever reason, awfully focused on something.


    ''The boy must be the strongest of the bunch, which was the reason why Rith would have us kill the rest, before focusing in the boy,'' Evin thought and nced at the other three mages to see which of them were the most kible.


    Ssatsko and Aran was forced to fight the woman, since the two couldn''t float away, so all they could do was dodge and try to attack back.


    One of the hooded men was seemingly casting World of Storm spells. Evin could feel a plethora of Air needles, much stronger than his own, ceaselessly harass Karan. Most of them were directed towards Evin''s eyes, but the helmet part of Karan did not allow its owner to be hurt.


    ''I really should make Karan eat reinforced ss, or some kind of transparent metal, or I won''t be able to see anything when I''m wearing a helmet,'' Evin thought.


    The other,nkier masked man, one with a ne around his neck, was apparently a World of Fire mage and he was charging up for a big spell.


    ''We should probably stop that,'' Evin thought and sent Air bullets of his own towards the man. But there didn''t seem to be any effect, as the bullets grazed against the man''s body without really doing any damage.


    Thankfully, some portals appeared near the man''s head and tried to cut it off, forcing the man to dodge. The same thing kept happening to the other Storm mage, as well, forcing him to keep in his toes.


    ''Rith''s doing work''


    Evin gave up on the Air bullets and focused on thinning the air around the three enemies. He also began to cast some random illusions to hopefully distract the enemies.


    He then dived towards the woman, as she was the one who was taking the most focus. If they could kill her first, then the fight will be much easier.


    Evin did not hesitate andpletely removed the air around the woman, trying his best to avoid Ssatsko and Arza.


    The woman, who was easily dodging the attacks of Ssatsko and Arza, suddenly found herself unable to breathe. The fact startled her greatly, and it created a chance for Arza and Ssatsko to mount an assault.


    Ssatsko''s new dagger, which was much more me absorbent than his previous one, glowed with a dangerous orange hue. The old man dashed in as fast as he could with his strengthened leg muscles and tried to sh the woman. Thetter obviously dashed back, but didn''t expect Ssatsko''s ming dagger to extend its reach by three steps, and she hurriedly tried to block it with her arms.


    The woman''s arms were almost cut in half with the sudden attack, but the offensive wasn''t over yet. Arza had already dashed next to her and was gesturing for a wide swing with his ming sword. It seemed extremely hard for the woman to dodge it, and she didn''t have enough time to conjure an earthen wall to protect herself.


    But, just as the sword was about to cut open her guts, it phased through her like she was a ghost. Arza found himself in an extremely precarious spot, as the inertia from his swing put his back wide open for the woman.


    ''Easterner!'' Evin realized and dashed towards the woman, gripping Karan tightly in his arms. Information about the Easterners'' proficiency in the World of Life and Earth appeared inside his head.


    The woman obviously did not waste such a great chance and shed down on Arza''s neck with her short sword, strengthening her muscles with all the mana she could spend. This time, she didn''t hold back, as her being an Easterner was known to her enemies and there was no need to waste such an opportunity.


    The sword hit its mark true, but instead of the clean sh the woman was expecting, a thudding sound came from the impact.


    Arza had mustered all the Life energy he had and directed it towards hardening his neck. Although he didn''t die, the impact from the blow was still there, so he fell face first into the ground heavily.


    At this point, Evin had already reached the woman and was gesturing for a strong stab with Karan against the woman''s head.


    The woman smirked at the boy''s dumb move and turned invulnerable.


    ''Yes!'' Evin smiled and put even more strength into his stab by making it heavier with the Heavy World


    The people who were looking were shocked with what happened next. The dagger that was supposed to phase through the woman''s body, like what happened with Arza, instead, lodged itself cleanly into the woman''s head. A spurt of blood came out of the wound, which promptly turned into a bloody fountain as Evin pulled Karan out of the woman''s head.


    Karan was a weapon who could bypass a Layeq''s invulnerability and make them unable to heal themselves. Though thetter function wasn''t needed as the woman died instantly due to the severity of the wound.


    "They have the test subject!" the World of Storm mage shouted, while the Fire mage shouted what Evin supposed was the woman''s name.


    "Li''shan!"


    The boy, on the other hand, seemed undisturbed by the death of his team member and continued to silently keep at whatever he was doing.


    The Fire mage dashed towards Evin, shouting madly. Evin could see that Rith tried to stop the man, but the World of Storms mage seemed to be more serious and bombarded the Cosmic with huge air des. Evin could even see them moving through the air, getting bigger and faster as they relentlessly targeted Rith.


    Evin prepared to intercept the iing man, but the Ne of Knowing shined inside his chest, informing Evin that he was under an illusion. Evin hurriedly applied the World of Thought energy to his eyes to see what was made out of Thought energy, but apletely silverndscape filled his vision.


    ''I''m a fucking idiot! Of course a fucking half-core would know how to deal with a textbook illusion discerning ability,'' Evin canceled his Illusion vision and decided to use his strongest World.


    Evin''s shadow darkened greatly and a thick watery wave burst out. A secondter, a huge, dark room had appeared on the battlefield. A rhythmically pulsating four story tall wall appeared on the battlefield. The boy practiced this ability of his as much as he could, and now, it was almost twice asrge, twice as tall and it wasn''t transparent from outside like he first cast.


    A secondter variety of creatures came out from inside the shadows, one giant maw as the centerpiece, waiting for prey to wander inside.

 Chapter 94: Debilitation

    Chapter 94: Debilitation


    Evin was god amongst humans in this dark room, but unfortunately, his opponents were not simple humans. But the darkness still let Evin know what was real and what was an illusion.


    The mage running towards the boy was engulfed by the Shadow zone and Evin could tell that this one was the real deal. He first thought that it was an illusion, but apparently the man was going for a double con. Evin decided that it was his best chance to take care of the man now, since he knew nothing about the Shadow Zone''s capabilities.


    "Ssatsko! Help Rith!" he shouted before storing the nearby Arza into his shadows. The boy was breathing, thankfully.


    "Good thing it''s cloudy today," Evin muttered as he nced at the sky.


    After Hor''rak was engulfed by the Dark spell, almost immediately, his instincts screamed at him that there was something wrong with this area. It wasn''t actuallypletely dark inside, since he could still see the gloomy grey sky towering over him. But at a certain point, the grey sky would turn intoplete darkness.


    It was a surreal sight, to say the least.


    Hor''rak started a fire inside the space to create some light, but the shadows on the wall and the ground would stay unperturbed. The man looked down and had a feeling like he was falling down into an abyss, since it looked like he was standing on nothing.


    "Fucking hell," Hor''rak muttered in his native Northern tone. The man was also feeling out of breath and confused. He used his methods to check if all of this was an illusion, but everything told him that the things that were happening around him were real.


    His strongest Worlds were the World of Thoughts, Storm and Fire, and he specialized in big spells. He would be called a Heavy Mage if he was born in the Kingdom.


    ''If that fucking Cosmic allowed me to cast my spell once, this fight would be over already But with my limited mana-core, it takes too much time to properly construct something. Maybe I should''ve just focused on suppressing fire,'' Hor''rak thought.


    If he was allowed to cast one of his powerful spells, the power would rival the output of a Lesser-imposer. The quarter-core children and the twin-horn would instantly die, while the Cosmic would note out unscathed.


    He could probably cast it in a matter of seconds, if he was a Lesser-imposer, but his maximum output was only 50 kgs. A slightly below average half-core.


    Irrelevant thoughts started appearing in the man''s head. He was also beginning to feel slightly dizzy in the head.


    ''Something''s definitely wrong here,'' he thought before he decided to just burn this whole ce down. He considered shining light on his surroundings, using the Luminous World, but considering his sad proficiency at the World and the mysteriousness of the dark space, he felt like it would not do much to help him.


    It was better to just do what he did best, to burn down things to cinders.


    ''And to burn down this whole entire World, eventually''


    Hor''rak was surrounded with a spiral of fire, getting stronger and stronger with the help of the wind. Eventually, the spiral became a sort of ming tornado, wreaking havoc inside the Dark room.


    But impressive as the ming tornado was, Hor''rak knew that it was much weaker than usual. With the amount of mana he used, the mes should be at least twice as hot and muchrger than it currently was.


    ''Is it because of this Dark zone?'' Hor''rak wondered. The ability seemed much too strong for a quarter-core to use. From what Hor''rak could tell, the spell weakened anyone inside it, and on top of that, it also weakened their spells?


    ''Perhaps it was a scroll, or magical device?''


    There was also another thing that worried him greatly. As his crimson tornado raged, he couldn''t feel anything burning inside the dark room. Since the mes were made out of his own mana, he could kind of feel the things that it touched, or burned. Just like how Evin could sense that this Hor''rak was the real one when he entered the Dark space.


    Either the dark room was much bigger than Hor''rak imagined, or it was empty.


    But he could definitely feel that there was someone else in the Dark. Constantly watching him, waiting for the best moment to strike him.


    This mess of instincts, reasonings and judgements made an even greater chaos inside Hor''rak''s confused mind.


    The man cancelled his fiery storm for the moment as it was just wasting mana at this point. He decided to leave this area and check out what was happening outside.


    ''Our victory is basically decided, after the "Revolutionary" is finished with the lockdown, but I wouldn''t really want to waste a life before then,'' Hor''rak reasoned.


    But when he tried to walk out of the Darkness, he found himself unable to, as the room was seemingly following him around.


    Panicking, he tried dashing away at top speed, but unexpectedly, he staggered at his feet and fell down to the ground. As his hands touched the thick shadow on the ground, a chill went through his back and he hurriedly pulled his hands back.


    "What the fuck is happening here?" Hor''rak muttered, before trying to get up.


    Suddenly a w materialized out of nowhere and swiped at the mage. Hor''rak blocked the attack, but immediately, a dozen other tentacles and w started to appear from the shadows, mercilessly assaulting the mage.


    Hor''rak had enough, and with the entirety of his mana-core he recreated a ming Tornado. But the expected burning of the ws and tentacles did not sound in his ears and only the weak burning of air was heard.


    Out of frustration, Hor''rak started directing his mes towards the ground and the walls, hoping it will destroy the weird area.


    Evin stared at the mage wreaking havoc inside his Shadow Zone from below. He was sitting in his shadow alongside his World Sprites and the Blood''s will, waiting for the mage to get tired. The heat from the mage''s spells pervaded the inside of his shadow, giving him an anxious feeling, but it wasn''t enough to actually hurt Evin.


    Since he could persist through it, Evin opted to wait and weaken the mage beforemitting to a fight, since if he started attacking the mage the instant he came inside the Dark Zone, the mage would easily repel the attacks and might deduct some things about Evin''s ability.


    A few secondster, the mage ran out of energy to keep up his ming tornado, left barely able to stand. The mage''s decision making got worse and worse as he stayed inside two of Evin''s area-of-effect spells. The darkness would confuse him, while also instilling fear in the man, and the Storm spell would continuously deprive him of his energies.


    ''The effects of oxygen deprivation is quite good I supposed it''s time to mount an all out attack. A few momentster his fingertips would start paling, and he would understand what''s happening. Good thing he thought that it was the effect of the Dark room and not a different spell,'' Evin thought.


    Evin ordered the World Sprites and the Blood''s will to kill the man, as thetter had just burned through a substantial amount of mana. It was the perfect time to attack.


    Just as Evin predicted, the mage died almost instantly. The tentacles wrapped around him and pulled him to the ground, while the ws and the Maw made quick work of him. The man''s shouts and screams filled Evin''s Shadow Zone, before itpletely died out.


    "Is this the difference between a normal mage and one with a specialty?" Evin thought.


    He nced beyond the shadowy walls, and saw that Rith and Ssatsko were pretty much done with the World of Storms mage. The mage would float around the battlefield, showing much better skill at flying than Evin could ever hope to, but it still wasn''t enough to save him from Rith''s portals.


    Add Ssatsko on top of it, and the mage''s death was all but assured.


    It was an expected oue, as Rith was an above-average half-core, while her opponent was average at best.


    The boy, on the other hand, watched his teammates get ughtered, but did not show any reactions.


    Evin canceled the Shadow Zone and flew towards the Cosmic and the old man.


    Ssatsko was pleasantly surprised to see Evine out of the fight, without a single scratch, as he was quite worried when a giant ming tornado appeared inside the Dark spell.


    "Rith?" Evin asked.


    "I couldn''t affect him in any way. The portals that I try to create around him do not appear and physical attacks just disappear when it gets close enough to him," the Cosmic replied.


    "Why can''t we just leave?"


    "It''s because there''s a barrier around us, preventing us from leaving. The only way to make it disappear is to distract the caster, but" Rith stopped talking, as there was a sudden change to the boy.

 Chapter 95: Melt... down

    Chapter 95: Melt... down


    "Eviendra, huh? It''s truly a shame to kill you lot. I can see why my little brother wished to recruit you Oh, how rude of me. I''m named Gshin," The boy said.


    At this point it was quite obvious that these people were from the Organization that caught Karan. Not to mention that the man himself was vehemently stating it inside Evin''s head.


    "shin was your younger brother?"


    "Surprised? Well, I''d love to exin it to you all, but the things inside us really make life difficult for the talkative bunch like us, eh? Now tell me, why did you kill him?" Gshin asked.


    Evin did not think that it was necessary to hide things, so he pointed at his Armor and said:


    "We fought for Karan the test subject you speak of"


    "Well, I suppose that''s fair enough a reincarnated metal Skinshifter. I''d want one for myself as well. And he does his intended just much better than his human counterpart," the boy mutteredzily.


    "Hmm It''s such a shame. Not every day we get to find a Beast Lord''s candidate And truthfully, the problem of loyalty can be solved with our Oath I''ve decided. You''ll be part of our organization, as one might call it,"


    "Can I refuse?" Evin said with a nervousugh.


    "The other kid''s pretty good as well But sadly, I can only bring in one of you. It''s my quota, you see?" Gshin kept muttering to himself, as if he didn''t hear Evin''s words. Gradually, a massive amount of Luminous World energy started surging from the boy.


    The sheer amount of it frightened Evin to his core. Evin nced at Rith, to see what she would do, but Evin only saw the Cosmic in an extremely precarious state. All her fur had evaporated into nothingness and the skin beneath was starting to get fried.


    Evin could see the cat struggle to cast a spell, clenching her maw so hard that some of her teeth were shattering in her mouth. The Cosmic seemed to seed, as a secondter, a huge explosion of Space energy happened in the area, and a slightly-burnt, fresh carcass of a cat, just plopped down to ground with that disturbing sound of raw flesh sshing on something.


    "I''m sorry" a familiar voice echoed in his mind before disappearing.


    Some thoughts appeared inside Evin''s head, but he didn''t have time to mind them as he nced at Ssatsko next. Thankfully, the old man was alright, and yet to be affected by the lethal Luminous spell.


    Evin did not think further and extended his shadow underneath the shocked old man and had it swallow him. Ssatsko seemed like he wanted to protest, but was too shocked to react in time.


    The next moment, Evin found himself in the same situation as shin''s underlings. He could see that he was surrounded by portals from all sides which somehow emitted blinding light from all around Evin.


    Gshin saw Evin slither into his own shadow inside the Dark Room, so he did not want him to get away. He could obviously find him inside his own locked space eventually, but he wanted less trouble.


    Evin couldn''t jump into shadows that fell on himself, as it was akin to entering oneself.


    ''I really hope it does something,'' Evin thought and inserted mana into the ring that Iorn gave to him before.


    The Dark bluish hue that the ring emitted naturally got much stronger, and a slight rumbling sound came out of it.


    Evin nced at the enemy and saw him making a shocked face at the ring.


    ''Good! It must be something good!'' Evin thought with happiness.


    Evin didn''t know anything about the artifacts, magical devices and scrolls; so the only way for him to judge its effects were based on the reactions of the more knowledgeable.


    The ring started scalding Evin''s thumb and Evin thought it was a burning hot, but on the contrary it was freezing cold.


    Evin debated to keep it on his body or not, since he didn''t know if it was something that would power him up, or something else, but in the end he was forced to drop it to the ground.


    The ring did not keep Evin waiting as it erupted into a dark-blue colored cloud-like mass of energy. It pervaded the surrounding atmosphere immediately, and the grey sky was painted dark-blue in a matter of seconds.


    Evin felt that this dark blue energy was very familiar, as it was the one that consistently invoked fear inside him. Obviously, it was the World of Time energy.


    The amount of energy that was contained in the ring was so enormous, that every other spell in the area started to dissipate into nothingness.


    The portal prison with the blinding lights that the boy conjured was nowhere to be seen, and Evin could finally retreat into his shadows. But before he could disappear Evin was hit by the boy''s spell.


    "You fucking brat!" Gshin was shouting and Evin could feel his skin peeling off, hissing all the while.


    Evin felt like he was being boiled alive, and vague visions of his twin sisters, covered in bubbling pus and lesions, appeared in his head. Then, as if mocking Evin for having such carefree thoughts in such a moment, the torturous pain came in trucks. Evin began to lose his vision, as his eyes melted down. He tried to cry in agony, but only gurgling sounds came from his deformed throat.


    His body should have ceased to function already, but Evin used the World of Life to keep his heart and brain working, hoping to prolong his life for at least a second longer.


    [Hang on for a bit longer! Something''s happening!] Karan''s voice sounded in Evin''s head. Evin didn''t know if the skinshifter really did see something, or if he was simply telling a white lie to prolong Evin''s life, but thanks to that second he managed to buy for himself, toughing through the pain and despair, something else happened on the battlefield.


    A thin, silverish metal rod, covered in glowing pink runes, appeared from underneath Evin and stabbed through him, which Karan tried to block with panic. But with the slightest touch against the rod, Karan''s metal body disappeared into nothingness, like it didn''t exist. Frightfully, the skinshifter looked at Evin''s body, but contrary to his grim expectations, Evin''s dying body was slowly fixing itself.


    The rod that stabbed Evin fed the boy''s disfigured body its much needed Life energy and the deadly effect that was happening on Evin''s body ceased at once. Evin couldn''t know what was happening around him, as he was solely focused on staying alive.


    On the other side of the battlefield, another rod covered in white runes appeared beneath Gshin and tried to stab through him as well.


    The boy dodged easily, but the metal rod dutifully followed behind him. The rod did not follow physical or magicalws, as it moved like a living being, easily bending and performing sharp turns.


    The lesser-imposer created portals in its way to impede its movement, but the metal rods smashed through the portals like they were made of paper, and dutifully following behind him.


    And it was getting faster and faster with each passing second. Gshin tried many different methods to destroy the rods, he tried locking it in Earth, making it heavier, freezing it with ice all of these methods had enough strength to kill a dozen Evins in a matter of seconds, but against these metal rods, these deadly spells would disappear into nothingness at first contact.


    "What...?" the Lesser-imposer was having a hard timeprehending the situation.


    But the thing that startled him the most was not the fact that none of his spells seemed to work on the rods. There were many things that could be described as nigh-indestructible among the peak personnel in the World of mages.


    It was, instead, the fact that the rods could prate his World domain. He had surrounded his body with the Luminous World domain, which protected him from all and any attack that was not from that specific World.


    There were only two ways to attack someone who was holing up inside their World Domain, to use that World against them, use a different World domain, or topletely overpower them with raw power, throwing so much mana that the sum would surpass the amount of energy that was contained in the World Domain itself.


    But the lesser-imposer did not feel such a huge amount in these thin metal rods, in fact, the amount was barelyparable to an average Half-core.


    As he tried his best to dodge the metal rods, the lesser-imposer saw a silhouette of a masked six-armed creature, wrapped in a white cloak, ascend in front of him from under the ground.


    Looking at the Cobfolk, the Lesser-imposer''s face paled. It was the one person who he tried his best to keep away from this matter. Gshin lost three half-cores who were trying to buy time for him to finish stabilizing the Space lockdown, so that he could avenge his idiot little brother.


    Since he wasn''t a Cosmic, he didn''t have the gic talent to stabilize a Space lockdown in a few seconds. The process would take at least 10 minutes of unbroken focus, during which Gshin couldn''t use any other spells, other than keeping his World Domain active.


    The three half-cores'' job was to distract the enemies long enough, so that the enemy Cosmic, Rith, couldn''t focus on the barrier. Given enough time, Rith could definitely drill a hole through the space barrier, since it was basically her own home. At that point, Gshin would need to focus on Rith.


    If he used his World Domain and big spells without locking down space properly, it would surely attract unwanted attention on themselves.


    It was a simple n, and it worked in the end... even at the cost of the three mages. The space was locked and there was practically no hope for Evin''s group.


    So why was Gshin now facing a former Authority?

 Chapter 96: Dead teens meetup

    Chapter 96: Dead teens'' meetup


    It was obviously the Time bomb that Evin set off.


    There were not many uses for the World of Time itself, aside from dysfunctional ones, but raw Time energy had some niche uses. Time energy''s most prominent feature was its ability to corrode. Anything would start rusting and corroding at the influence of time. Even magical constructs and other energies fell victim to its powers.


    Just like how the energy explosion destroyed the portals around Evin, it destroyed the Space Barrier surrounding the battlefield as well. The excess energy inside the space lockdown would then breach into the atmosphere, painting an enormous dark-blue energy cloud.


    Obviously, powerful mages like Kena would be able to easily perceive such things.


    "A lesser-imposer, huh? Why don''t you stay still for the time being?" Kena said in his staticky voice and directed the metal rod towards the boy.


    Thetter struggled to keep himself safe, but there was no way he could outmaneuver a former Authority. When Kena wasn''t here, the rods were basically on autopilot, so Gshin had some sess in dodging them. But with the Cobfolk''s added control, the lesser-imposer''s fate was sealed.


    A few momentster, Gshin stood motionless, a metal rod slithering through his body, keeping his body still.


    Kena approached the Lesser-imposer with unhurried steps, his focus on keeping Evin alive.


    "Now, would you like to tell me where you''vee from?" Kena asked.


    "Make a Velvet Contract with me, I''ll tell you everything about it," Gshin replied with a smirk.


    "I''m afraid that won''t be possible, as I had used thest I had with the boy, you see?"


    "What did that Child show you, for someone like you toe personally to save him?" Gshin could not understand the reasons.


    "Oh, you don''t have to worry about that. I just know I won''t be getting bored until I die, thanks to that boy," Kena seemed to smile behind the mask and continued.


    "Well, since you won''t beplying, I''ll have to use some extreme measures," Kena said as he touched the boy''s forehead and his hands took on a silver hue.


    ''No!'' the boy decided to kill himself when he noticed the silver light. Silver meant Thoughts and that could only mean brainwashing, or mind reading, which were both extremely lethal to the organization.


    Noticing the boy''s intentions, Kena decided not to be so considerate and immediately started delving through the boy''s mind. There was only one thing he was searching for, and those were locations and entry methods.


    Not even a secondter, Gshin''s head exploded into smithereens under Kena''s silver hand, but Kena had gotten what he wanted. Gshin hade straight from their organization''s base, so the location of a secret base in the East was etched upon Kena''s mind.


    The Cobfolk then unhurriedly walked towards Evin.


    "Well, we should definitely try to fix that," he muttered, looking at the deformed boy.


    The boy''s facial skin hadpletely melted on itself, before molding itself due to the Life energy that was supplied through Kena''s rod. His forehead had sagged down to cover the boy''s eyes, creating a two deep pockets that outlined the visual organs. Evin''s ears had melted down to almost his chin, a row of teeth outlined around it through the boy''s sagging cheeks


    The rest of Evin''s body did not fare well either, creating something that looked like a badly made mud golem.


    Thankfully, the boy''s bones did not melt, which was probably the only saving grace in this whole situation.


    As monstrous as Evin looked, his heart was still beating, unfailingly pumping blood throughout his body. His mind worked in full power to keep the World of Life effects on himself, never allowing itself to lose consciousness.


    The boy stubbornly clung onto life.


    Kena gently touched Evin''s head with his silver hands, allowing the boy to enjoy his well-deserved rest.


    In one obscure underground Oasis of the East, a white clothed worker was diligently cleaning a row of life-sustaining tanks. Children of all ages were contained in these tanks, asionally sending bubbles of air upwards. The whole room itself was illuminated with blue light, as there were naturally created mana-lodestones growing from one of the walls in this cave, supplying the tanks with its much-required energy.


    Since the East''s climate was on the dry side, it didn''t take a lot to maintain these tanks. Just wipe them with a damp cloth once a day and everything was dandy. The worker''s job was a monotone one. Aside from cleaning, all he had to do was to watch over these tanks to check if nothing happened.


    He had to work in shifts, since there couldn''t be a moment when there''s no worker nearby when something happened from time to time... like now.


    One of the tanks, which was doing its job without any issues, started ring an rm. The worker hurried to it and saw one of the teenage girls pounding on the ss of the tanks from inside.


    The worker inputted themand to release the girl. The liquid inside the tank was drained, and the teenage girl inside dropped down to the tank''s floor with a thud. She tried getting up and walking away, but her legs, which sorelycked exercise in standing up, much less walking, gave up on her, forcing her to tumble down onto the cold concrete. Thankfully, the worker caught her before she fell, saving her from the pain of scraping her brittle skin against hard concrete.


    The teenage girl calmed down soon afterwards after realizing what had happened.


    "Lady Li''shan, what would you like to have me do," the worker nced at the name on the tank and asked politely.


    "N-nothing fo de taim bein tauwel, pleas," the girl answered and asked for a towel in a broken way, unable to properly form words with the unfamiliar mouth, shivering all the while.


    The worker scurried away, and brought back a towel and some other clothing necessities. He also helped Li''shan drink some hot tea, careful of the girl burning herself with her unustomed new hands.


    A few minutes passed, and Li''shal''s shivering stopped. She was thinking about how she died and realized that the dagger inside the boy must have met the test subject and learned how to use thetter''s powers.


    She took a nce at her body, and saw a pale white skin, delicate and alluring. She then grabbed at her forehead, to check for something else.


    ''A normal human, then,'' she judged, finding no horns.


    ''This isn''t too bad. Although I can''t go invincible, I can at least use more Worlds'' as Li''shan thought about her future, two other pods started sounding the previous rm.


    The worker hurried on to release the two neers. Noticing that the neers were boys, he hurriedly threw the towels and clothes at the two teenage boys, and put two hot drinks in front of them. He then went to themunicator and informed the necessary personnel.


    Li''shan waddled closer to the two and saw the names on their tanks. Sure enough, they were Hor''rak and Zantis.


    The handsome, blonde Zantis had turned into a dark-skinned boy, and the ugly Northerner Hor''rak had turned into a red-haired Westerner.


    "Hei, Risha," Zantis said, noticing the girl.


    It took a little while before the three got used to their new bodies. The three sat together and practiced speaking and flexing their arms.


    "How did the fight go?" she asked after a while.


    "Fucking Hor''rak got stuck inside the dark-haired quarter-core''s spell, making me fight that Cosmic and twin-horn alone. Do you know how hard it is to fight an enemy that can decapitate you with a single attack? Not to mention the old man who would keep throwing ming des to distract me," Zantis grumbled.


    "That spell wasn''t normal. I couldn''t see anything inside, and I was constantly getting weaker with every second. Even my mes were weaker than before. I couldn''t escape and I couldn''t hit the brat too. In the end, I was torn to pieces by a huge dark maw. How can a quarter-core have such powers?" Hor''rak snarled in response.


    "Did you buy enough time for Lord Gshin, at least?" Li''shan asked.


    "We did. He should be done by now, don''t you think?" Hor''rak answered and Li''shan calmed down.


    "Perhaps he''s melting the poor bastards one by one, it was his younger brother after all," Zantis shrugged.


    "Well, as long as we''ve seeded. It sucks that we died, but I guess it''s just the upational hazard. Oh, and also, Hor''rak, pretty sure you were getting weaker and weaker because the boy was snatching away the air around you. He did the same to me,pletely removed all of the air around me suddenly, which was the reason I was put in a passive state and killed in the first ce," Li''shan mentioned.


    "That also exins why my mes were weaker! Cheeky brat! If the Revolutionary didn''t kill you, I would have surely gone to take my revenge," Hor''rak eximed.


    "Oh, and also, the boy''s armor and dagger was a metal skinshifter, which was the test subject. That was the reason why he was able to hurt you through your invincibility," Zantis exined.


    Dying wasn''t a bad thing for those who could revive. At least they could learn from their past mistakes.


    As the three chatted about random things, the door to the tank room opened and dark-masked official came in to inform the three about their mandatory post-reincarnation body familiarization session.

 Chapter 97: Half-core

    Chapter 97: Half-core


    For the first time in a long while, Evin had the nightmares about his twin sisters melting from above him.


    This time, though, there was no panic and fear. It was like watching an old horror movie: a bit disturbing, but not quite scary. And for Evin, it felt quite nostalgic.


    Evin knew he was dreaming, but he had full control over his actions and he was fully conscious as well. Evin didn''t know how long he was dreaming, and he knew it was quite long. But he wasn''t dissatisfied.


    He knew he was alive, since Kena hade to save him. That was all that mattered.


    Evin couldn''t really focus on things other than staying alive when he was conscious, but details of what happened during that time popped into his mind one after another, which allowed Evin to guess at what urred.


    He also felt truly calm and at peace with himself in this dream of his.


    ''I guess I couldpare it to lying on afy bed, knowing that your every problem is solved and no one else needed you doing nothing,'' Evin thought.


    The former spirit was not someone hard to satisfy or amuse.


    He even found the fact that his twin sisters melting above him to be funny. He remembered that when he was a teenager, only 12- or 13-years old back on Earth, he would condemn himself for feeling disgusted and fearful of his sisters, and cursed to himself that he would someday end up like them.


    The fact that he actually melted down like a candle amused him to no end. The irony was too thick.


    As Evin spent some time alone in this state of his, taking a holiday of some sorts, he could see signs that the dream was about to end. He would sometimes hear unknown voices resound in his head, speaking mostly gibberish at first, but eventually it started making sense. But Evin didn''t know if he liked what he was hearing.


    "Oh shit, where''d his ears go?" an unknown woman''s voice, speaking in a thick eastern ent, sounded inside his head.


    "I don''t think the ears are of importance, as I can''t see a single point of resemnce to the previous Evin," Kena''s staticky voice sounded next.


    "Who cares? Let''s just say puberty happened. And besides, how am I supposed to know how the boy looked like? It''s not like I''ve seen him," the woman replied.


    "Here, I''ll create a projection," Kena seemed to say.


    For a brief moment after, Evin could only hear muffled sounds, but after that period ended, Evin noticed that he was finally awake.


    He nced at his surroundings, but had some trouble focusing his eyesight.


    ''Well, at least my eyes aren''t melted now,'' he thought, before trying to see around himself.


    "Oh, you''re awake. You okay, hon? You looked terrible when Kena first brought you to me. Thought he''d mixed a damn human boy with a mudman first, but he told me it''s a melted human boy, can you believe it? Anyhow, does it hurt anywhere? Anything feeling out of ce?" the familiar voice said after noticing Evin.


    Evin found a silhouette of a small ck woman in front of him, two pink glowing lights around where the eye of the woman was supposed to be.


    "I can''t see well, my vision is unfocused," Evin said and found it impressive how he could actually talk without problems.


    "Oh, shoot, thought I''d messed something up around your head First it was the ears, but I guess the eyes were also quite broken. Sorry, hon, for the sloppy work, but you must understand that there wasn''t much left for me to work with All of your eyes were melted into your skin, you see? Those goddamn Luminous mages, always making a mess of their victims Fire mages as well. What''s so fun about melting a damn person, right?" the woman said, nudging Evin with her fingers.


    Evin found it hard to disagree, as he felt firsthand how it was to melt.


    The woman started working on Evin''s eyes and Evin could feel a tingling itch around his eyes. He could feel that an enormous amount of raw Life mana was swirling around his eyes, until it turned into living tissue. Evin was too tired to care about the miracle that was happening to his body.


    The woman supposedly transformed Evin from a melting wax statue to a proper human being. A little something like a materializing a functional real eyeball wasn''t that impressivepared to that.


    A few momentster, Evin could actually look around himself with the new eyes of his. He had a proper look at the woman in front of him. Tall body, round face, bald head, shining pink eyes, and a bunch of pink tattoos all over her body.


    "Thank you," Evin said.


    "No problem! Though, you might want to look at yourself in the mirror before saying that. Also, try walking around! I''ll help you up!" the woman said and helped Evin to his feet.


    "I haven''t heard your name," Evin mentioned, though he could guess that it was a certain someone who ruled a World.


    "Va''eri Solvatum. Nice to meet you, Evin," the woman replied.


    ''Well, as expected, the Authority of Life,'' Evin thought.


    Evin looked around and found himself in a brightly illuminated room, one that seemed awfully familiar to him. The mix of books and botany served to inform Evin that he was in Kena''s study.


    Evin walked towards one of the mirrors and was shocked at how his body had changed.


    "How long was it, since I was unconscious?" Evin asked.


    "Only a day or so, as far as I know," the Authority replied.


    "Then why do I look so much bigger than before?" Evin asked. Evin remembered that he was about a meter(3.28 ft) tall, but now, he was a good 20 cm(7.87 inch) taller than before. His face also looked a bit different as well, Evin could now call himself handsome.


    "Well, as one of the best medics in the World, I can tell with confidence that your body was influenced by the effects of Time energy. Aside from corroding anything and everything, it also makes people age faster. So I''d say you''re about two years olderpared to yesterday," Va''eri replied.


    Evin was dumbfounded, and then he entered the World of Life and checked inside his heart.


    ''I''ve be a half-core'' he thought. He knew he should be happy, but he was a bit underwhelmed by the growth of his core. From his initial 3.99 cm, his core only increased to about 4.02 cm, which meant a total increase of 2 kg of mana.


    ''At this point, I''ll be a Lesser-imposer in 98 years...''


    Then, as if remembering something, he hurriedly nced inside his shadows. He remembered putting Arza and Ssatsko inside the thing for safekeeping.


    "Ah, don''t worry about yourpanions, Hin took them out of your shadows for you. The old man and the kid also became much older, though they still look generally the same. Oh, and, do you like the new look I gave you?" the Authority asked.


    "You mean my new face?" Evin asked.


    "Yep! You looked kinda average in my books, so I nudged some deformities here and there when I was reconstructing your face. Hope you don''t mind"


    Evin didn''t mind getting pretty.


    "I like the new looks. Though, can you tell me about what had happened?" Evin needed to learn about the things that urred after he went unconscious.


    "Well, I don''t really know everything exactly, since I was one of the people who were calledst But nor called every Authority for a meeting at the insistence of Kena.


    When I came, Veidra and Hin were already here, catching up on things here in this room. Those two usually have nothing to do, so they came the fastest, I suppose. Kena saw me and told me to fix you somehow, and I was busy with that for most of the time. Afterwards, most of the other Authorities who usuallye to these meetings came.


    Anyway, they''re all in one of the meeting rooms inside the mansion, and they''ve actually asked me to bring you to them, when you awakened," Va''eri finished talking.


    "Me? Why?"


    "Not sure. But it''s probably best not to keep them waiting some of them are new Authorities, so they''re quite worried for the wars that their offsprings are waging, so I''d guess they would want to go back as soon as possible. Here, wear these," the woman said and threw some clothes towards Evin.


    After Evin finished wearing them, Va''eri lead Evin to another room inside Kena''s mansion.


    Entering, Evin found a bunch of people, most of them having a pair of glowing eyes. There was also a subtle tension in the air, which made the room feel deprived of air.


    Noticing the neer, they curtly nced at him, but didn''t continue to stare.


    Evin could see a few familiar faces in the room. There was Two Tales with his dark modern suit, nor with his monocles and crimson clothing, and Kena in his white cloak and mask. There was also another familiar face in the room. Rith, who Evin supposed had melted to death before him, was apologetically ncing at Evin.


    ''I guess she kinda ditched me there, huh?'' Evin realized, as he remembered her voice saying sorry in his head after Rith''s carcass fell to the ground.


    ''Well, we''ll have time to talkter,'' Evin thought.


    Aside from the familiar faces, there were six other individuals in the room.

 Chapter 98: "Menace"

    Chapter 98: "Menace"


    A woman with pale skin, with long, straight, dark hair and twopletely dark holes instead of her eyes, wearing afortable looking gray dress sat at one of the seats around the table. Her two ck eyes seemed to contain the infinite darkness inside it, mesmerising the onlooking Evin. Noticing the boy staring at her, she sent a gentle and amiable smile back.


    ''That must be Hin. She''s much different from what I imagined her to be''


    Another woman, much older this time, with curly silver hair and eyes which also shined in a silver hue. The shining pupils in her eyes, though, looked to be vertical, giving off a unique huepared to the other Authorities. She also wore a set of tight fitting woolen clothes, covered with a stylish shoulder guard, holding some sort of fancy wooden staff in her hands.


    ''Probably Veidrakar''


    Another woman sat at the table, wearing a set of borate dress that was a mix of orange and ck. The most prominent feature of the woman was her eyes burned in a unique color of orange and her slightly humped nose. She red at Evin when she noticed that the boy was checking her out, so Evin hurriedly retracted his eyes.


    ''How scary, was that the queen of Griffins, Librack?''


    Next to her sat an old man, with shining white hair and eyes,zily looking around the room. He wore a well-made tunic with an enthralling white thread, and wore a crown seemed to be made of a Light energy infused metal. He exuded a certain aura of pride and confidence, making Evin wish to idolize him.


    ''Judeus Arcwall, the founder of the Western kingdom,''


    One more person sat at the table, but this one didn''t have a glowing gaze like the others in the room. But he did exude an unimaginable amount of mana from his body. A long crimson horn adorned the man''s head, as his eyes coldly looked at the other individuals in the room.


    ''Is that St''s representative or something?'' Evin thought, but then he directed his gaze towards the most conspicuous individual in the room.


    A teenage girl, perhaps only 12 years old, wasfortably sitting next to Two Tales, looking at Evin with a Cheshire smile, her eyes glowing in a dark blue light. Evin nced at her clothes and saw a white tank top that said "Legal Loli" in English, and a pair of short, blue jeans.


    In the room filled with people wearing full body clothes, she was definitely the most eye-catching.


    ''Of course,'' Evin thought as he tried his best to not stare. It was best to not think about it, and besides, it was obvious that the Authority was just joking around. Evin also knew that Two Tales was somehow rted to Earth, so it wouldn''t be weird if Twelve Jokes was the same.


    "Ah, Evin, we were just talking about you," Kena said, finally.


    "What did you want to ask from me?" Evin asked.


    "We wanted to ask about the people that tried to attack you. I''ve nced through the head of that lesser-imposer, and saw some very interesting things. Although he did kill himself the next second," Kena said.


    "In truth, I don''t know much about them in the first ce," Evin began and narrated everything he knew about the organization, starting from how he met Karan and then shin. He then told them how Gshin said that shin was his brother and he came to avenge him or something.


    After listening to the whole story, Kena nodded slightly and nced towards the Empress'' duo, particrly towards Two Tales. The other authorities acted simrly as well. It was a sore truth that the two Authorities of the Empress knew much more than the others in the room.


    Just like how Evin used other people''s reactions as a gauge to judge some things, the ten authorities used Two Tales to gauge the severity of a problem. Twelve Jokes was also the same, but the girl didn''t really show any reactions or emotions to things.


    Anyway, the expression that Two Tales had was one of unsurprised, annoyed disinterest.


    ''No surprise means that the Empress knows about it; disinterest means that the Empress doesn''t really care; annoyance means that even if she doesn''t care, it would eventually turn into a problem which needed taking care of,'' Kena judged.


    It obviously could''ve meant a different thing, but Kena judged that it should be something along those lines. The other Authorities also seemed to judge that it was something like that.


    At this point, whatever''s happening with that Organization in the East, it would surely be ignored until it bes something that can''t be ignored.


    "Ah, can''t you just peek through Karan''s memories? He was the one who lived through all of that, in the first ce?" Evin asked.


    Kena replied.


    "We''d love to, but a peek at the metal skinshifter tells us that the procedure would most likely destroy the man''s soul. It also happened with the lesser-imposer as well. When I started going through his head, his soul had such a violent reaction to it It almost felt like it was going to explode. The boy, the lesser-imposer, managed to kill himself before that But I felt something extremely weird about how he behaved. He waspletely fearless towards death, he even seemed to see hope in it Which makes me think that he was sure he was going to be reincarnated," the old man said slowly before asking Evin: "What do you think?"


    "I can''t be sure, but the fact that the lesser-imposer had the appearance of a teenage boy should mean that he was reincarnated before. He also called a man who was obviously older than him his younger brother. There''s also the weird Oath they impose on their members and their test subjects, one that follows them into the afterlife. If none of the countries have a simr technology, I suppose I can safely say that this organization of theirs specializes in the research of souls," Evin concluded.


    The boy''s words caused a stir among the listeners, especially the ones affiliated with countries. Librack, the Queen of Griffins stood up from her seat and announced.


    "The South will be in charge of taking care of this menace! Livendia Threetails agreed to have me represent her"


    "The West will send a delegation as well, I''m sure the North and East have something to say as well," Judeus said.


    "I''ll tell the big guy, he should want to get in the action as well," Va''eri said.


    "The North finds these unknown enemies a threat to the bnce. The Paradra will send a team," the Crimson horned Northman said.


    The four representatives of the Countries began to argue about who to send to the unknown Organization. At some point a huge metal golem appeared out of nowhere and started arguing with the rest. The golem was madepletely out of some unknown metal and its eyes shine with a beige light.


    With the Golem''s arrival, Va''eri took a step back and the rest of the Authorities gathered in the room started dispersing. nor said his goodbyes, which fell mostly on deaf ears, and left through some portal. Rith was left behind and she hesitantly approached Evin.


    "Hey," Evin said to the Cosmic.


    "I''m sorry, Evin," Rith said.


    "After having spent so much time with me, I''d think you''d know that I won''t care about such things It should actually be me who should apologize," Evin said with a sigh.


    "What do you mean?"


    "I don''t know what I felt when I thought you had died"


    Evin said it in a way that made it look like he was the bad guy here.


    It was even more ironic, since it was clearly Rith who first betrayed the boy. Sure, the circumstances did not allow for much choice, since she would''ve died at the spell of that Lesser-imposer. And even if she wanted to, she wouldn''t really be able to do anything to help Evin.


    Evin could clearly look at the situation from an objective perspective and not me the Cosmic for her actions with confidence.


    But Rith was slightly taken aback from the words.


    Should she feel d or should she feel offended? If she felt d, then should she be disgusted at herself for being d? If she felt offended, should she reprimand herself for being such an entitled person?


    "Hey, don''t think about it so deeply. I know I said it vaguely myself, but there wasn''t really much choice for you back then, right? No one''s perfect. Just think of it like this: It is what it is," Evin said and picked up the Cosmic in his arms and said.


    "I''m d you''re alive"


    "You too," Rith replied.


    "Though, how did you survive?" Evin asked.


    Rith then exined that she could eject her astral body out of her physical body and hide inside the World of Space. It takes a lot of Space energy to work, but most Cosmics had this kind of safety measure.


    The argument of the representatives was going swiftly. All of them were people who practically ruled the four countries, so they were more than capable of deciding what to do with their countries.


    In only a few minutes, they had decided to send a rare, unified force that consisted of the four country''s best mages, one representing the Empress'' will. They were, technically, fellow countrymen, after all.

 Chapter 99: Dark

    Chapter 99: Dark


    "Evin,e here," Kena said. The Authorities who were not participating in the debate had gathered up and were walking outside the room.


    "Are you sure you want the kid to apany us?"


    "He''s a boring old man like us, besides, I need to exin some things to him," Kena said.


    "Ah, that exins his boring dream," Veidrakarmented.


    ''?''


    Evin didn''t know what the Authority of Thoughts was talking about.


    "You were lucidly dreaming, right? I tampered a bit with it, to see what you would create inside it, but who knew you would just stare at your sisters melting down on your face repeatedly. It even seemed to amuse you greatly, since you started grinning like an idiot at some point," the olddy exined.


    "Wait, I could change stuff that was happening inside my dream?"


    The olddy just shook her head in exasperation, hearing the boy''s answer.


    "Do any of you know where the Authority of the World of Fire is?" Evin asked. He hoped to see the man in this meeting of Authorities, but sadly, the man was not present.


    "St? The boy was acting like a cksmith of the Spirit me Tribe when Ist saw him. Though I''m pretty sure he moved away from that ce not long after," Veidrakar replied.


    "I saw him ten years ago staying in some forest hut, suntanning buck naked," the void-eyed womanmented.


    "Probably doing his cycle or something Poor Kal, working so hard in his absence," Va''erimented.


    ''The Super-imposer''s name must be Kal. He should most likely be the leader of the Paradra tribe,'' Evin noted.


    "Well, he''s going to rece St sooner orter, so it''s best if he gets used to the job," Kena said.


    "Poor Kal he''ll probably end up like Librack, or K''rath," Va''erimented again and the others nodded their heads.


    "Umm, Lord Kena, thanks for your help with the organization," Evin butted in the conversation. He felt that if he let these old people keep talking, it would probably take forever.


    "Oh that, don''t worry about it. That organization would''ve needed to be dealt with sooner orter. But the problem is that these guys are all professional procrastinators, so they would have waited until thest moment before they moved if there weren''t anything to be gotten from it," Kena said, broadly gesturing at everyone.


    "Are you sure they knew how to reincarnate by will?"


    "Even if they don''t, the possibility of it exists. That alone will make them a target of the Four countries.


    "Who were those people, in the first ce?" Evin asked, referring to the organization.


    "Who knows? Two Tales and Twelve Jokes here, can probably tell you more if you wish to know," Kena replied vaguely.


    Evin looked at Two Tales expectantly, but was refused.


    "It''s too early and too pointless for you to know though no one stops you from specting," Two Tales shrugged.


    "Oh yeah, since I''ve be two years older, what will happen to my perk? Will it still disappear when I''m 15, or will it stay until I''m 17?"


    "It should extend till you''re 17 or so, though I don''t know how many days exactly," the man said after a slight pause.


    ''That''s nice''


    "What did you want to exin to me?" Evin asked Kena.


    "Well, there isn''t anything much, I just wanted to tell you that you''re free to do anything you want without worrying about the organization. Truly, child, you''ve overpaid me for the things I''ve given you. I''d feel bad if I just left you out in the wild like that," Kena said.


    Kena had actually done much more than he let on. He could''ve had Karan, Rith, or Ssatsko exin the circumstances, but he purposely hid them before Evin became conscious. Kena wanted to expose Evin to the Authorities, so they would know that Evin existed.


    Sure, most of them would feel indifference towards the child, but being etched into the memory of an Authority wasn''t a bad thing.


    ''Is he talking about taking care of the organization for me?'' Evin only thought Kena was talking about putting the organization in a horrible spot for him.


    "Anyhow, it''s best if you go on your way to receive your horn. Even if the whole 7-year-old thing is a scam, it''s best to not bend the rules too much," Kena said and walked away.


    The rest of the Authorities walked away, except for Hin and Twelve Jokes.


    "Best if you tame that darkness inside you, or might find yourself tamed," Hin said suddenly.


    "Excuse me?" Evin couldn''t quite hear the woman''s words.


    "You can use the Darkness of a Beast, do you know why?" Hin asked.


    "I''ve actually been wondering about that myself," Evin answered truthfully. He heard from Rith, that him using the Vulpine Mother''s darkness was an anomaly, and she also advised him not to rely on it.


    The Cosmic herself was intrigued by the Authority''s words, listening silently while being held by Evin.


    "I can''t bepletely sure, but have you ever been insane?"


    "I have In my previous life, a few dozen times, actually," Evin replied.


    "Do you remember what happens when you''re insane?"


    "No"


    "Well, there you have it. Most probably, you acted like an animal with human intelligence and body. If you keep using that World, that animalistic side of yours will prevail, or the blood inside you will start taking over," the Authority exined.


    "Do you know what I could do?"


    "You''ll need to do a lot of thinking. First of all, what does darkness mean to you? If you can determine that, you could simply wait until you be a Lesser-imposer and work on materializing your own definition Or, you could try to tame that Beastly darkness inside you. Turn it into your own unique version. Maybe make it more human?"


    "Lady Hin, what does Darkness mean to you?" Evin asked.


    "Mine''s very simple. Darkness means eternity. I know that many others think that it has something to do with mystery, but I just never bothered to fix their opinions Besides, eternity is a much cooler concept than mystery, no? Just think about it, the boundless, ever-expanding universe that might be littered with countless civilizations ands and to think that more than half of it isplete darkness"


    "That is true"


    "Wait, how can I talk to you about those things?" Hin said suddenly, shocked by the words that were allowed to leave her mouth.


    "I wasn''t supposed to know of those things?"


    "Technically, yeah. Who were you in your previous life?"


    "Oh, I''m not from Alvox, originally. I guess you could call me a transfer spirit. Ie from a different, or a World called Earth," Evin said.


    "Oh shit, you''re a goldmine, aren''t you? No wonder Kena''s so obsessed with you," Hin eximed.


    "Hey, Twelve, does the Empress know about this?" the Dark Authority asked the teenage girl. Hin and Evin were still in the corridor, so Twelve Jokes was still standing near them, staring at the two.


    Evin was trying his best to ignore her like Hin, but was having a hard time doing so.


    "It was approved by mother, yes," Twelve Jokes replied.


    ''Mother? Who''s the father?'' Evin heard something interesting, and instantly, his mind went towards the scandalous aspect of the news.


    Hin, on the other hand, was deep in thought.


    "Let''s go somewhere to sit down and talk, shall we?" Hin said, and the four entered a random room inside Kena''s house.


    "What were we talking about before?" Hin asked.


    "We were talking about your interpretation of darkness," Evin replied.


    "Ah, yes Well, don''t be so eager to coincide your beliefs with my own. Just because I believe in something, doesn''t mean you have to as well. Think about all the cult members that worship me, especially the Lesser-imposers and the super-imposers. What if I went and told them that my darkness embodies eternity, instead of the mystery and fear that they thought it represented? Will they call me a liar, or will they abandon the things that they''ve put their faith in for decades? And honestly, just between you and me, sometimes I''m tempted to see what happens," Hin said with a giggle before continuing: "But we still have to talk about what darkness means to you"


    "I didn''t have any thoughts on darkness, buttely, I''ve been more or less considering it as something living," Evin replied after much thought.


    "Now, do those thoughts originate from you, or from that blood inside you?" Hin asked.


    "Although I think that there''s a lot of influence from the blood, I''m starting to feel that Darkness as something ever-changing and inconsistent. Although I think it''s a bit weird to ask this from you, but do you ever look at something dark and think that there could be anything in there?"


    "I agree that I''m probably the wrong person to ask this, but I do get where you''reing from," Hin nodded and asked: "But don''t you think that you''re kind of forcing yourself to think like that, so you can keep using the Beast Lord''s darkness?"


    "I have a feeling that I''ll end up in a simr situation if I ever have to define my specialty with another World as well," Evin said.


    "You want to say that you yourself specialize in adaptability?" Hin asked, cocking her head. After pondering over the matter for a few moments, she asked: "Well, I hate to ask this, but what kind of life did you lead before all of this?"


    Evin briefly summarized his life for the Dark Authority, leaving out the details concerning the technology. Hearing the story, Hin fell into an even deeper thought. Twelve Jokes also seemed interested in the details.


    "Why not just persist on that Darkness of yours? If you''re afraid of losing your humanity, just turn that animalistic Darkness more human. You think too much H as well," Twelve Jokes said suddenly.


    "I suppose you''re right, Twelve Good luck with your darkness then, Evin," Hin said with a sigh.


    Evin felt like he had finally found a clear path to take with this problem of his. Feeling opportunistic, he decided to squeeze some more info from this senior of his.

 Chapter 100: Empress is a nice lady

    Chapter 100: Empress is a nicedy


    "Lady Hin, do you know which World works best with Darkness?" Evin asked.


    "Are you talking about the horn?"


    "Yes"


    "Well For the current me, it''s the World of Thoughts, it''s just such a useful World when you get enough mana to truly benefit from its wonders. But it''ll be quite useless for you for most of your life, since the first thing that mage schools teach their students is the ability to discern illusions... and that''s basically all you can do with the amount of mana you have. But there is one thing that the current you could do with a Silver horn, and that''s creating artifacts," Hin said with a smile.


    "What do you mean?"


    "You know how the World of Thoughts is sometimes referred to as the World of Creation? It means that your imagination could be reality after a while. It''s a grueling process, but if you try really hard, you can create magical artifacts out of nothing," Hin said with a smirk.


    "What?"


    "Well, I suppose I shouldn''t say that it''s created out of nothing. Look here and tell me, if this was a magical artifact, what would it do?" Hin said and brought out a small statue, made out of wood. It was a masterfully created depiction of the human heart.


    "Some sort of healing spell?" Evin answered, expectantly waiting to see what would happen next.


    "Sure, why not," Hin said and started directing Thought energy towards the statue.


    A huge mass of energy surged into the object, painting it with a brilliant silver hue, which started turning pink at some point. A small light-showter, Hin threw the now pink wooden statue towards Evin.


    "It shouldpletely heal your wounds once every week, and after you use it, you won''t be able to use the World of Life for a day. It has a bunch of restrictions on it, since that''s the main way of creating powerful effects: sacrificing some parts to make the others shine brighter. You canpare it to a zero-sum game, I suppose. When one thing is prevalent, something else needs to be lessened topensate," Hin exined.


    "How much mana did you direct towards this thing?" Evin could not help but ask.


    "About two tons, but don''t think that every Super-imposer can do something like that, it mostly depends on the skill of the artificer. Even a beginner mage could do the same, albeit over a much longer period of time," Hin bragged.


    "By constantly imbuing it with Thought energy?"


    "Yep, it''s a grueling process, like I said, but it''s definitely possible,"


    "And the Horn would help me with that process?"


    "Yep, and usually you would need to spend years and decades training and all that bullshit but I can cut you a nice deal. I''ll have Veidra impart the knowledge directly into your head. It will be like you know every aspect of this art, and you just need to practice it in real life," Hin said with a smirk.


    "Is that fine?" the whole thing sounded profoundly illegal to Evin.


    "Of course! Though in exchange, I''d like to hear everything Earth knows about Darkness from you," Hin asked expectantly.


    "Is that all? I''m pretty sure you will be disappointed by what you might end up hearing. It''s not much different from what people here think," Evin said.


    "That''s all fine, it''s just a passing interest of mine," Hin said and contacted Veidra.


    "Hey, Lizard Lady,e here, I want to have you do something for me," Hin said.


    "What is it? Kena''s pulling out the fermented stuff,e quickly. What are you even doing over there?" the olddy''s voice sounded from the object that Hin used.


    "Alcohol can wait a few minutes, I need you to stick some raw data into Evin''s head. I got a really good deal"


    The silver haireddy materialized out of thin air the next moment.


    "Stop making deals in my name," she said spitefully.


    "Don''t sweat the small stuff, k? The boy needs to learn Forced Artificing. Do your thing," Hin waved her hands.


    Veidrakar grumbled something under her breath, but still looked at Evin in a professional way.


    "The boy''s not talented enough. Even with a silver horn and all the information he needs, it will take him half a century to create something worthwhile," Veidrakar said after a nce.


    "Really? We were picking a horn for him, one good enough to fit the Dark World, what do you think?" Hin asked cutely.


    "Luminous, Heavy, Fire, Emotions Just take your own pick, and you won''t be disappointed. And besides, you''ll outgrow your horns sooner orter, so in the end, it doesn''t really matter, yeah?" Veidrakar answered.


    Evin was confused with the statement. Noticing the boy''s confusion, Veidra exined.


    "How many of us do you see having a horn?" Veidrakar said and pulled out a pipe and put some herbs inside.


    "St only?"


    "The horns are like a crutch for babies. At first, it will be helpful for your casting, but at some point, you will be able to do what it offers you by yourself," Veidrakar lit the pipe and puffed a big one and continued: "But, I rmend you to choose a World that''s difficult to understand but one that you''re notpletely clueless on"


    Evin thought briefly and asked.


    "For the Artificing thing, do you know what kind of people are most talented at that?" he inquired.


    "People without any useless memories So, Children of the Empress are a definite no-go. Normal children, or even teenagers who hadn''t really learned much about magic are the best," the olddy said. Hearing the details, Evin thought of a possibility.


    "How about amoner with a silver horn?" he asked.


    "Hmm, I suppose it would work, but you should make sure that their horns are big enough. One that''sparable to a quarter-core or a new half-core, at least"


    ''If I let Sasha touch the Velvet Contract, she should be able to utilize this Forced Artificing thing,'' Evin concluded.


    "My sister''s a normal person with a silver horn, could you impart that knowledge to her?" he asked.


    "I can, but do you have the methods to increase her horn size?" Veidrakar asked and Evin showed her the Velvet Contract.


    "Hmm, I suppose that barely works. Actually give me that thing. I''ll chuck the knowledge inside it, so you can just have her touch the Velvet Contract and she''ll receive the necessary knowledge," the olddy said.


    "You can do that?" Evin asked in wonder.


    "Hmph, who do you think you''re talking to?" the olddy scoffed and took the Velvet Contract.


    "Think about your sister and give me some of your blood. I''m assuming she or you both aren''t adopted or something, right?" the old woman said. Evinplied and thought about Sasha. Veidrakar''s hands glowed silvery as she touched Evin''s head and the Velvet Contract.


    Another Light-show urred, and Evin now had a Velvet Contract with silvery words etched on them.


    "Just have your sister touch it and it will impart the necessary knowledge upon her, alongside some extra boost to her horns," the olddy said.


    "Well, you got what you wanted, now tell me about the Darkness of your World," Hin said expectantly.


    "I''ve sorted all I remember about the subject onto the most exposed area of my mind. Just get inside there and take a look yourself. There should also be a flimsy barrier protecting the rest of my head, so please don''t go beyond that spot," Evin answered. He learned how to do these things thanks to the Potion that Kena made him drink. Obviously, the Dark Authority would be able to easily breach his sad excuse of a barrier, but Evin trusted her enough to go through his mind.


    ''Besides, if she really wanted to, she would have taken a peek without caring about my feelings, anyway,'' Evin thought


    Hin did not take long, as there wasn''t really that much that Earthlings thought about Darkness. Perhaps there were some individuals who do have much more interesting things to say about it, but Evin was not one of them.


    The more interesting stuff Evin had in his mind were the scientific definitions of darkness, and Dark matter. Obviously, Evin didn''t know much about such difficult subjects, except for surface-level trivia. But the dark-eyes woman did not seem to mind and happily thanked Evin for the new info. Looking at the adult woman in front of him, squirming from happiness, Evin couldn''t help but ask, his curiosity getting the better of him.


    "Why are Authorities so nice?"


    "Hmm?" Hin cocked her head.


    "Well, you should be able to forcefully nce through my head if you really wanted to, right?" Evin asked.


    "Oh, that. Well, let''s just say the Empress has us following some certain rules and guidelines," Hin shrugged.


    "Oh"


    That exined a lot of things to Evin. Then, another question popped into his mind.


    ''What do Authorities do anyway?'' he could not help but think. Evin really wanted to vocalize this question, but the two Oaths inside him vehemently refused to let Evin speak of such matters.


    Evin clutched at his heart, due to the sudden pain.


    "Are you Oaths acting up? Well, you''ll get used to it," Hin said with a smile.


    It took a little while before Evin''s heart calmed down.


    "Well, if you don''t have anything else to ask, we''ll be taking our leave. Hope we see you again," Hin said.


    She took the elderdy''s hand, and the two disappeared out of Evin''s vision.


    ''Guess asking about an Authority''s job is a no-go. Well, thankfully, the Empress is a nicedy,'' Evin thought, as he nced at the two Oaths wrapped around his heart.

 Chapter 101: Ekhri Tribe

    Chapter 101: Ekhri Tribe


    Twelve Jokes, on the other hand, seemed to be quite content with simply staring at Evin with her permanent smile. At one point, the smiles seemed to have be even wider and crazed.


    "You can leave, you know?" the Authority with the appearance of a girl said suddenly.


    ''Really? I''m pretty sure you''re going to stab me in the back if I do so?!'' Evin really did not trust the words of the girl.


    "Is there anything I can help you with?" Evin asked with his best business smile.


    "Hmm, maybeter," the girl said and walked out of the room herself.


    ''Okay, I''ve survived certain death,'' Evin sighed in relief. Say one thing about Evin, say he''s a survivor.


    Whole body melted? Ended up even more handsome than before.


    Attacked by some crazed Mob as a one year old? Outlived all of them.


    Actually died? Reincarnated


    Evin smirked at his own jokes and told Rith to bring him to Ssatsko and Arza. Also Karan.


    Rith brought the now 6-year-old boy to where Ssatsko and Arza was waiting. Evin entered and found that the old man hadn''t really changed much, whereas Arza had be much taller than before. The boy was holding Karan in his hands, supposedly talking in their heads.


    The red-haired boy was almost a head taller than the current Evin, making thetter wonder why there was such a difference in growth.


    "Don''t be so prone to sacrifice yourself," Ssatsko said after seeing Evin.


    "The Lesser was obviously nning to spare me. There was only the difference of you dying or not after Rith," Evin said.


    "Well, guess we can just be happy that no one died in the end," the old man replied.


    "Whatever, I think we should hurry on to that Caretaker Tribe you were talking about. Pretty sure we''re two yearste at this point," Evin said.


    "I suppose you''re right"


    The group then talked about the impending journey. Arza stayed awfully silent throughout the exchange, making Evin wonder if something happened when he was unconscious.


    ''Well, aside from us getting almost killed'' Evin thought with a slight smile.


    Evin talked to Karan and told the man to not worry about the Organization.


    [The fuck?] Karan replied. Evin was d that the man''s vulgar speech hadn''t died out.


    [Kena let loose a bunch of Authorities on them. They think that the organization has some technology or magical device that can revive their members,] Evin said.


    [Shit, really?]


    [Yep, they were talking about sending a bunch of Super-imposers and Lesser-imposers to the organization,] Evin said.


    [Well, they did have some stuff that seemed too good to be true,] Karan said before he started wheezing.


    ''Probably said something he shouldn''t have,'' Evin thought.


    A little whileter, Karan had calmed down.


    [By the way, what were you talking about with Arza?] Evin asked.


    [Hah, you jealous?] Karan seemed to sneer and then continued: [Nah, the kid''s just a bit overwhelmed by what had just happened. When Lady Hin took us out of your shadow, he saw the atrocity that had happened to you Well, you can guess how shit like that can affect a 4-year-old]


    [What did he say?]


    [Said he wanted to be fucking hero. To be strong enough, so things like that won''t ever happen again. I kinda sympathized with the kid] Karan said.


    [I feel like I have to tell him that the truth about myself soon] Evin sighed.


    ''Perhaps the best time to tell it to the boy is now,'' Evin thought but decided to wait for the time being.


    In the end, the group decided to teleport to their destination. They said their goodbyes to Iorn, who promised he would tell Kena and the others when the Authorities finished talking. Maybe in a month or so. Iorn also gave Evin another Time bomb, just in case.


    Evin hoped that he wouldn''t need it, but he still put it on his middle finger, which had now grown big enough to hold the ring in ce.


    A dayter, near the gates of the Ekhri Tribe, a golden portal appeared in the air.


    The group got out of the portal one by one, with Rithing outst. Evin looked at the "Tribe" territory and he really felt that calling it a Tribe was quite misleading.


    The Tribe grounds were akin to a slightly small town, built only for the wealthy. There were no walls that served to protect from outsiders, only a short fence that even normal people could jump over.


    A forest surrounded the Tribe Grounds, and Evin could hear the sounds of running water from somewhere.


    The path to the Tribe grounds was paved with stone roads, with some people already queueing on it. Children of various ages, holding their parents'' hands, were curiously eyeing the three neers. They were especially enthralled by the floating Cosmic. Their parents managed to keep them in check, but Evin was pretty sure they were about to pile on Rith.


    "Guess a country in peace isn''t so bad, huh?"mented Evin.


    Before this point, every town or city he entered was surrounded by huge walls and trained guards. His hometown was even named after a wall.


    Ssatsko gestured for the group to follow behind. He passed by the line of people and entered a door that said: [Mages only].


    Inside the door, sat a bored male receptionist,zily reading through some paper, stamping some of them in the process. Noticing the group, he seemed to have trouble deciding whether he should greet them or not.


    "Two mages,ing for the Horn ceremony," Ssatsko said.


    "The ck-haired one seems okay, but the red-haired one is obviously much older than 7," the receptionist said with a snort.


    "They''re both six, here are the documents," Ssatsko said and showed a few papers.


    "Look here, it says they''re 4 in this document. Can you at least make a believable scam?" the receptionist said with open annoyance.


    "The two were subject to a Time energy explosion, which made them a bit older than their actual age. And the red-haired boy is a World of Life mage, so his growth was much more prominent as well," Ssatsko tried to exin, but the receptionist cut him off.


    "Please get out and stop wasting my time"


    Evin felt like this would take a long time if it continued, so he pulled out the emblem that Kena gave him and showed it to the receptionist.


    "Lord Kena Noyan told me to show this to whoever was in charge of my Horn ceremony. The red-haired kid has one as well," Evin said.


    ncing at the emblem, the receptionist''s naturally uninterested face gained some color, and he hurriedly tried to grab at the emblem.


    Evin, obviously, did not allow him to take it.


    "Give it to me, so I can check its authenticity," the receptionist said.


    "No deal. Call someone important to talk in your ce. Someone smart enough to not offend a former Authority," Evin said in a threatening tone.


    Hearing about the consequences of his actions, the man turned meek and went into the back door saying that he will need to call someone.


    "But how do they know about this emblem''s meanings?" Evin almost muttered, before the Northern Oath inside him started ying around with his heart, for speaking of such matters in front of Ssatsko and Rith.


    His face paled, and he turned towards Ssatsko.


    "Hey, what does this emblem mean to you?" Evin asked.


    "I''m not sure, I just know that it''s something very important, due to how it stirs up the Oath inside me. From the way it''s wriggling around my heart with uncertainty is hinting at how important that thing is," Ssatsko replied.


    Rith was also eyeing the Emblem with curiosity.


    ''So they don''t know, but the Oath in them makes sure that they don''t mistake it for anything else,'' Evin thought with interest.


    ''Oaths are so useful''


    The group had to wait 20 more minutes before the receptionist came back. This time, there was another man beside him.


    The neer was obviously cut from a different cloth,pared to the rest of the people that Evin saw in this Tribe. Charisma and heroism oozed from the man''s entire being, and the magnificent two horns of Crimson and Blue on top of his head further pushed this image.


    "Wee to the Ekhri tribe, honorable guests. Let me introduce myself, I am known as Zorrik Khata, leader of the Ekhri Tribe. Could you tell me which of you has the emblem of the Eight-armed champion?" the Zorrik said.


    Evin realized why it took the receptionist so long toe back. The poor man must''ve informed his superiors, one who which also informed their own superiors, resulting in a chain that somehow led to the leader of the Tribe.


    "Thank you for having us, Lord Zorrik, my name''s Evin and this here is Arza. We both have the emblem," Evin replied without batting an eye.


    The receptionist was shocked at the boy''s calmness, but Evin, who had juste from a meeting of Authorities would not be shocked by a mere Tribe Leader.


    "Please follow me," Zorrik said and brought the group to a fancy-looking room. There were tons of parchment and scrolls put in small boxes on the walls, covered in yellow cloth. Zorrik''s desk was made of some smoothened stone, giving off a heavy and imposing impression.


    The Tribe Leader invited the group to sit down and had someone serve tea and snacks to the group.


    Evin and Rith happily indulged in the snacks, while Arza and Ssatsko looked around the room with interest.

 Chapter 102: Tribe Grounds

    Chapter 102: Tribe Grounds


    "Now, your documents say that you''re only 4 years old, but you definitely look much older than that. Could you tell me the reason why?" he asked.


    Evin showed him the Time bomb on his finger and exined the situation to him.


    "Lord Kena gave me a Time Bomb, saying that it might help me to avoid a cmity. At first, I didn''t know the effects of the Time Bomb, but I still put it on my hand, just in case. Who knew I would need to use it the moment I step out of the City of Smog. Some people tried to ambush us with the intention to kill, three half-cores and a some other teenage boy. We killed the three half-cores, thanks to their carelessness, but thest boy was apparently a Lesser-imposer. I had to use the Time Bomb, since the Lesser-imposer locked down space around us and started using some sort of Luminous spell that could melt people. Long story short, the Time Bomb destroyed the space barrier surrounding us, allowing Lord Kena to notice that something unruly was happening near his territory," Evin exined the situation.


    "And the Time bomb''s effects rubbed off on you. We''ve also noticed that there was a sudden explosion of Time energy around that area, so it was rted to your group," Zorrik said before continuing: "Thought it''s still impressive how you''ve managed to kill three half-cores as a peak beginner level mage"


    "Oh, we''ve be quarter-cores at that time, thanks to Lord Kena. And thanks to the Time Bomb''s effects, we are now greenhorn half-cores. Besides, most of the credit goes to Rith here," Evin said and pointed towards the Cosmic, stuffing her face with sweets.


    "Didn''t you kill the woman with a surprise attack, then dueled another and managed to kill him with that weird spell of yours?" Arza suddenly said.


    "The first one was thanks to Rith, who kept two half-cores busy, while thetter was due to luck and the enemy not knowing the effects of my spell," Evin exined and noticed how Arza''s way of speaking had changed slightly.


    Zorrik, hearing the exchange between the two, thought for a bit and decided to talk about the more impending matters.


    "Well, since I have nothing else to ask, let us talk about your curriculum," he said.


    Hearing the man''s words, Evin perked his ears up.


    "First of all, there are three sses for mages: beginner, intermediate and advanced. Beginner sses are forpletely new mages. They talk about the Worlds, the Authorities, how to cast magic, etc., so that one will be useless for you two. Intermediate touches upon some finer details about Artificing, Core-bending, Sprite-Casting, World Formations and Alchemy; while also teaching some moreplex spells to the young mages. And finally, the advanced sses delve deeper into these subjects while also having you learn a bit about Multipart Spells," Zorrik exined.


    The pace of the studies seemed a bit slow to Evin, but he realized that most of the mages are 3-6-year-old children. Even with the increased intellect of mages they would need some extra time to wrap their heads around the Worlds and whatnot.


    "I believe we''ll enter the Advanced ss. We''ve been studying this book for the past few months, and it seems to contain information about the five basic mage specializations," Evin said and pulled out Unabach''s book.


    "Ah, master Unabach''s book. If you are familiar with the contents of that book, then there shouldn''t be any problems with you entering the advanced ss," Zorrik nodded.


    "I do have a request, though, do you have a Dark World''s Core shard? And a corresponding absorption technique?" Evin asked.


    "We do. We have one for every World, but you would need to exchange them for contribution points"


    "And how do we get these points?" Evin asked.


    "Usually, a new mage would go around doing some missions posted in the Great Hall of the Tribe grounds, but doing so would take too long for you two, who had juste a year before the next Horn Ceremony. So, I''ll allow you to buy one Core shards and Techniques for some gold each," Zorrik said and gave Evin and Arza a little badge.


    The badge had a golden border and the number "3" was etched upon it.


    "Thanks for your help, Lord Zorrik," Evin was happy. The one thing he wasn''tcking in was money. At this point, his whole personality revolved around being a rich boy.


    "Don''t mind it. What''s the point of living in society, if you don''t get some special treatment once in a while? Anyway, I''ll leave you in the care of one of the advanced ss'' instructors," Zorrik said and a knock came from the door.


    "Come in!" Zorrik said and a woman of about 30 entered the room. She had a dark blonde hair and a single beige horn on her head. Contrary to the warm colors of her horn, her eyes shone with a dangerous glint as she eyed the two children with some coldness.


    "This is Losha Lyu, the instructor of your new ss. You can consult her with whatever you need to and about the matter of the emblem, you can contact me before the Horn Ceremony," Zorrik said and sent the group off.


    The group followed the woman through the Tribe Grounds silently and reached their dorm room.


    Evin and Arza were put in a single room with two beds. It wasn''t a big room, but it seemed considerablyfortable. There were baths and toilets inside and there even seemed to be something akin to a fridge.


    Rith walked towards the bed andfortably sprawled on it. Ssatsko would stay in the Tribe Grounds as a temporary closebat teacher for themoner kids, so he had gone to check out his new ce in the staff''s living quarters.


    Evin addressed Losha and showed her the little badge that Zorrik gave him.


    "Miss Losha, I''ve been granted the privilege to buy Core Shards and the corresponding Core Bending techniques with it. Could you show us the ce where I can do that?"


    Hearing about the privileges, Losha''s eyes seemed to be slightly colder.


    "You can ask for it in the Great Hall, though, you would need a considerable amount of gold to afford them," Losha said and pulled out arge sheet of paper from one of the drawers in the room:


    "Here''s the map of the area, so you won''t get lost"


    Evin nced through it and saw a few ces worth his attention. The Great Hall was the biggest of them, since it had counseling services, the Mission Pir and the shop as well.


    Other ces included the Training Grounds, the Library and the Cafeteria. There was also an arrow that pointed towards the area that was designated for non-mage children.


    Evin couldn''t wait to go purchase the Core Shard.


    ''If my rich boy personality isn''t enough, I can still borrow from Rith''s sugar mommy personality'' Evin decided.


    "I see, thanks for your help, Miss Losha. Do you know when sses would start?"


    "Advanced sses should start in two weeks, or so. Gather at the Training Grounds, and find me. I''ll be near the ss. Also, here," Losha said and gave Evin two copies of a pair of books. One thick and the other slightly thinner.


    "This is?"


    "It''s the study materials for the past two years. I understand that you''ve studied by yourselves for the past few months, but it wouldn''t hurt to check up on things again," the instructor said.


    "Thank you, Miss Losha," Evin said.


    "Hmm, if you need to ask something important from me, you can ask the librarian and he''ll contact me. Other than that, the lobbyist at the Great Hall can exin most of the basic info you need," Losha said and walked away.


    ''Losha looks a bit like how Lora might have looked if she was a mage'' Evin thought as he watched the woman''s walk away through the doorway. After she left, Arza asked suddenly.


    "Why does thatdy dislike us so much?"


    "Hm Maybe she just doesn''t like Westerners? Who knows? But since she''s being polite towards us, at least on the surface, we should act the same," Evin replied. He expected to hear some protests about being honest and showing one''s true feelings from Arza, but surprisingly the boy didn''t object.


    ''The previous Arza would have definitely said something to the instructor at some point, but perhaps he''s grown a bit?'' Evin wondered.


    He felt a bit saddened to see the pure and innocent Arza to grow dull and polite like himself. Even if Evin felt annoyed by the boy, he still enjoyed a different opinion now and then.


    But mostly it was just fun to correct the child and feel superior to him.


    "Why would she dislike Westerners?" Arza asked, confused.


    "Well, hmm What did you think of when you first saw a Cobfolk?" Evin asked.


    "I thought that if I had six arms, I would maybe able to beat you in closebat," Arza answered honestly.


    ''Of course you would think of something like that''


    "Then if a really beautiful, rich, and smart Cobfolk girl proposes to marry you, but then there''s another equally beautiful, rich, and smart human girl proposes to marry you, which one will you choose?" Evin asked.


    "Probably the stronger one," Arza answered after thinking for a bit.


    "Well, I wish everyone in the world would think like you Okay, how about this. Imagine this: some evil person, who is stronger than your father, captures Aran and another man from the streets," Evin began.


    "Yeah?"


    "Then he tells you: "Pick one over the other and that one will be spared, but the other will die". Will you choose your father, or the stranger," Evin asked.


    "I will choose my father," Arza replied without thinking for another second. Evin was surprised with the boy''s decisiveness, but he had already guessed that the boy might reply like this.


    "Well, there you have it. Some people care more about the people and things that are closer to themselves. Probably, that instructordy thinks that the North is the best country in the world, and thinks that Westerners aren''t good enough, or something," Evin said, his speech gradually devolving into a child''s lingo.


    Arza seemed unconvinced, but Evin was already tired of feeling superior to the child.


    "Let''s go to the Great Hall and see how much these Core Shards cost," Evin said, and the group walked towards the Great Hall.

 Chapter 103: The Great Hall

    Chapter 103: The Great Hall


    It wasn''t a long walk, since the Great Hall was located right next to the dorm rooms and the cafeteria. ording to the map, if Evin continued through the hall, he would end up in the study area, which included the library, the ssrooms and the training ground. There was also some ce called the Beast''s den outside.


    The group entered the long hall with various rooms aligned throughout its sides. A circr counter sat in the middle of the Hall, with a lobbyist standing inside, an amiable smile stered on his face, ready to help the young children with whatever they may need.


    Some younger ones could be seen holding a guardian''s or a teacher''s hand, cutely swaying on their two legs, walking around the Great Hall doing one thing or another. But mostly being noisy. There were some older children in the mix, most likely the same age as Arza and Evin, who acted a bit more mature than their younger brethren.


    Evin could see that the older ones were a bit less noisy and more on the stoic and prideful side. It seemed that they delighted themselves in being mages and Northerners, so they looked at Evin and Arza with a little more hostility and disdainpared to the younger children.


    ''Well, I suppose that''s natural. Even with them being a bit smarter than normal kids, they were still children in the end,'' Evin thought.


    Well, aside from the hostile looks here and there, most children eyed Evin and Arza with innocent curiosity. While Evin was receiving some curious gazes due to his newfound handsomeness, Arza''s size and red hair seemed to be the focal point of their gazes. The boy in question, though, did not mind their gazes as he nonchntly eyed the tall ceilings of the Great Hall.


    Then, they noticed Rith, who was floating beside the two neers. The Cosmic was flustered by the sudden barrage of sparkling eyes and timidlynded on Evin''s head.


    Evin smiled at the unexpected fluff sight, but did not bother entertaining the children and asked the lobbyist about the purchase of Core Shards.


    "Have you registered your badges in your names?" The lobbyist asked.


    "Not yet"


    "Well, I''ll do it for you, so please don''t lose your badges. These will be in used as your Identification information in the Tribe Grounds, for counting your contribution points, and also for registering for missions," the man said and asked Evin and Arza their names, ages and core sizes.


    Evin did not put Eviendra as his name, as it would make him a target for bullying. To deal with that Evin would either have to turn into an asshole or just ept his destiny.


    When it was revealed that Evin and Arza were both half-cores, some gasps of shock resounded from nearby, but it wasn''t anything too eye-catching in this bustling hall.


    As the two kids put away their badges, the lobbyist then directed them towards one of the rooms in the Great Hall.


    The All-purpose Shop.


    Knocking on the door, Evin heard an approving voice from inside, saying something in Northern.


    ''I should start learning thisnguage soon, huh?'' Evin thought and opened the door.


    Inside, he saw an awfully tall Cobfolk with disturbingly thin limbs, sorting some of the items on the counters.


    "I couldn''t understand if you said enter or not. Hope I didn''t mistake your approving tone for something else," Evin said in Imperial.


    "Oh, Westerner children sorry about that. What did you want from here?" the man asked in Imperial after taking a nce at the two children.


    "We wanted to buy some Core Shards and the corresponding techniques," Evin said and showed Zorrik''s badge. The man eyed the badge with some surprise and reluctance, and then eptance.


    "Slightly more important Westerners, eh? Well, here''s the list of Core Shards. Take your own pick and no haggling. Also, you both can only buy one technique with gold. After this, you need to pay with contribution points," the man said, trying his best to hide his discontent.


    Evin could obviously pick up on these things, but didn''t bother butting heads with the man and took a nce at the list.


    ''Now I really wish everyone had simr views to Arza...'' he thought briefly, before realizing how bad of an idea it was in actuality.


    ''The Core Shard prices vary from 50 to 300 gold and the Core-Bending techniques start from 100 gold and end at almost a 1000,'' Evin noted.


    Also, the Contribution points required were ten times more than what the gold coins showed. So the Core Shard''s price varied between 500 to 3000 contribution points.


    If Evin thought of the contribution points as a form of currency, then it was a pretty darn good currency. 10 percent of a gold coin meant that it was automatically the third most stable form of currency in the Empire, as far as Evin knew. First two being cold coins and Crystal-grade lodestones.


    Crystal-grade lodestones used to be the same price as gold coins when Evin was first starting to learn magic, but its prices were dropping at a steady rate. The biggest reason was that it was almost the year of 1478 in the World of Alvox. In the year 1500, all the lodestones in the World would disappear into thin air and then appear in random ces on the World of Alvox.


    Anyhow, Evin had just finished almost all of his money during his stay in the City of Nevernight and only had a few dozen gold in his hands.


    "Sir, what do the differing prices mean?"


    "Well, obviously, the more expensive the better. Don''t worry about getting scammed, I don''t want to die by the hands of the Tribe Leader yet and I still have some pride left in me to not swindle little children(even if they''re Westerners)," the man muttered at the end which Evin did not hear and continued: "Anyway, the more expensive Shards are a bit purer than the cheaper ones, while the more expensive Techniques work more effectively, while affecting your ability to adapt to other techniques the least"


    From Unabach''s book, Evin learned that one couldn''t use one technique indefinitely when assimting Core Shards in their mana-cores. Each unique technique''s effects would lessen over time, and a mage would need to search for different ones.


    Some of these techniques would require the mage to spend months, if not years practicing, so the mage''s body tended to kind of get used to absorbing Core Shards in that particr way only. Thus, the reason who the technique''s effects on future techniques were very important for mages when they chose them.


    Satisfied with the Cobfolk''s answer, Evin addressed the Cosmic.


    "Rith, lend me 4000," Evin said. He had almost 50k in his savings, but he didn''t want to take money from that.


    "Sure, an added 20 percent interest sounds about right." Rith replied.


    "What? How could you? We''ve known each other for like three years already 5% is a good enough representation of our friendship," Evin said.


    "Are you kidding me? What''s the point of lending someone money if you don''t get anything back? 17% is the lowest I''m willing to go," Rith replied.


    The back-and-forth interaction stopped after a while and they decided on a 8.5% interest rate, a bit tilted towards Evin.


    The boy didn''t wish to further push the percentage since he knew of the Cosmic''s upational disease, where she felt super depressed if she did something with money and didn''t profit from it somehow. While Rith, on the other hand, felt bad for leaving Evin behind during the Lesser-Imposer''s attack, so she was a bit lenient with her insistence.


    Evin then bought the best Dark World Shard alongside the best technique to absorb it. He also bought Arza a World of Life Shard and its corresponding technique.


    The Cobfolk pulled out two handbooks from behind the counter and gave Evin and Arza a ck and Pink object each.


    The obsidian Core Shard that Evin had received was in the form of an extremely viscous liquid, and it was put inside a finger-sized vial. The substance inside was constantly spreading and moving throughout the vial like a web, as if it was trying to escape it somehow.


    Another thing that Evin noticed was its confusing state of matter. It was surprisingly heavy, giving Evin the feeling that it was an extremely dense object, almost bordering on being a solid object, but other times, it would emit some sort of gas, fogging the insides and turning the vialpletely ck.


    The Pink Shard that Arza received, on the other hand, was also in the form of a liquid. Pink blood, specifically. It was put inside a special container that would continuously stir its insides in a spiral matter, not allowing the blood inside to clot. The bright pink shine that it emitted hinted at the powers that were contained inside.


    ''Splurging feels so good'' Evin thought, satisfied with his purchase.


    "Can I have a look at the other items that you sell?" Evin asked the Cobfolk, who was dumbfounded by the rich person aura that Evin was emitting.


    ''You just spent 2600 gold coins and you still want to spend more?!'' the Cobfolk thought,menting in his heart due to his poor upbringing.


    "Sure," the Cobfolk said with his eyes twitching behind his mask.


    Evin took another nce at the items on the list and found some interesting stuff.

 Chapter 104: The Mission Pillar

    Chapter 104: The Mission Pir


    A Channeling artifact with identical specs to Evin''s own wasfortably sitting at 3500 gold coins, almost double what Evin paid for.


    There were also a variety of magical artifacts, with unique and special effects. Most of them could be summarized in two words: Hotter mes, Deeper darkness, Brighter Lights, Stronger Winds, More Tenacity and Vitality, etc These were rtively cheap, costing only 5-10 gold each.


    Evin bought one for the Dark World and tested its effects, but he couldn''t quite feel the difference. He inquired about it from the World Sprites and the Blood''s will, and they expressed that they feel very slightly stronger than before. Practically negligible.


    Evin didn''t feel disheartened. Bad purchases were an inseparable part of life.


    He browsed through the rest of the list and found some interesting items, but either Evin was unwilling to buy them, or were simply banned from purchasing with gold.


    The banned items were mostly Spell Scrolls with a bit of Thought energy attached to it. They were simr to the Scroll that Evin bought in the City of Nevernight, ones which were used to teach whoever reads it the contents of the scroll forever.


    Evin couldn''t see the exact type of the spells inside the scrolls, as some mages could replicate the effects of the spell through luck or talent. The list of items only showed the type of spell and a very general description of its usage. For example, most of the list would consist of names like: "World of Fire, area control", "Luminous World, Wide Attack", "World of Water, Defense", "Dark World, Support/buff", etc. And next to them, their prices would be put.


    There was one item from this list that Evin really wished to buy, and that was a scroll named: "Dark World, Single Target Attack", price: 10000 contribution points. It was one of the more expensive scrolls in the list. Evin was having some trouble attacking an enemy with the Dark World (without ripping them to shreds), so this new Spell was very, very interesting to him.


    As for the less cost-effective items in the list, they were mostly Alchemy potions. Most of the potions were healing potions and they were disgustingly expensive in Evin''s eyes. There was one blood-clotting potion that cost 60 gold coins. There was also a potion that would close a would on its own, and that one cost 70 gold. A potion that would mend a broken bone was priced at 400 gold.


    But thinking about it for a bit more, Evin could see why. Not many people were geniuses in the World of Life like Arza here, and they couldn''t just reattach their arms or close up gaping wounds in a matter of seconds like the Easterners. So, a potion that could do that for them was a godsend for most mages.


    Evin wouldn''t buy these items, since he had an item that could basically do all the above but better. Although there was a weekly time limit and a single day ban on the World of Life, the wooden statue of a heart that Evin received from Hin would be able topletely heal Evin''s wounds.


    Not to mention that Evin himself wasn''t that bad at the World of Life, thanks to the revtion he received from the Serpent type Beast Lord.


    ''Speaking of that Serpent, I should bring Arza to see the thing at some point, huh? Evin pondered.


    Getting back to the topic at hand, Evin looked at the final list of items. These were items that were not rted to magic. These were mostly quality-of-life changes. Better dorm rooms, a built-in training area, room service, and even a private butler of the sorts.


    Evin didn''t mind spending a little money on convenience and rented the better dorm room and the training area for a month. It all costed only 4 gold coins, anyway. It was potatoes to Evin.


    Obviously, things that only served to further someone''s luxury were not valued simrly to something that could strengthen someone permanently.


    Evin, Arza and Rith left the shop and decided to take a peek at the Mission List in the Great Hall. Evin wanted that Dark World Spell, and the only way to get it was through contribution points.


    A group of boys and girls, mostly only three or four, had gathered outside the shop''s door and approached Evin, asking if they could pet Rith. The pleading eyes of the kids got to Evin''s heart, and he left the reluctant Rith at the hands of the children.


    Evin himself walked towards the Mission Pir.


    Some older children had already gathered around the big pir that was littered with posts that described various missions on it.


    As Evin squinted his eyes to see the details on each paper, some other kid near the area pointed towards Evin and Arza with their chin, and spoke something in Northern. The boy said two sentences, one filled with spite and another filled with mockery.


    Evin couldn''t understand what they said, but tried to guess at what they said.


    '' "Western rich boy Do they even know that the Horn Ceremony isn''t for 8-year-olds?"... or something''


    On the big pir. The pir itself had a rectangr shape, with its four different sides listed missions with different levels of difficulty.


    But sadly, he wasn''t allowed to focus on the missions, as the child from before felt ignored, and mocked again.


    "Western Scum. You sure you''re seven years old?" the boy said in Imperial this time, addressing Evin and Arza. A group of children who seemed to be the boy''s entourage, gathered behind him. Two blonde haired boys and a sassy looking girl with a ponytail.


    ''Aw, he didn''t call me a rich boy,'' Evinmented inside his head.


    Arza looked at the boy with a questioning gaze and answered.


    "I''m actually fo- six. Did you just call us scum?" the boy said, forgetting briefly that he had be six in a single day.


    "You''re supposed to be the same age as us? Who did your parents pay to let you inside the Tribe Grounds?" the boy spat out spitefully.


    "If you have problems with our legitimacy, please inquire Tribe Leader Zorrik about it," Evin said with a shrug.


    The Tribe Leader''s name seemed to invoke some sort of fear in the children, as a trace of fear shed though their eyes.


    ''Does Zorrik eat children? Why does everyone seem so scared of him?'' Evin thought. The male receptionist from before looked at Evin like he was some sort of brave hero, when the boy started talking to the Tribe Leader in a casual way.


    As Evin was thinking of random stuff, the group of 6-year-olds started talking to each other in Northern, and then eventually decided to leave the two be.


    ''Finally,'' Evin thought and nced at the Pir.


    The easiest missions were put in one side, and they usually had something simple, like helping with the searching of some objects, cleaning up some areas, helping with the preparation of food etc. and the rewards varied from 1 to 5 contribution points.


    The slightly difficult missions were stuff like helping with the construction of buildings in the non-mage part of the city, repairs of certain items, delivery of goods stuff like that. The rewards varied from 5 to 25 contribution points, with construction jobs rating the highest.


    The third side of the wall now required a certain amount of knowledge in Alchemy, Scroll-making, World Formations, or any other magic rted subject. Most of the missions included something like:


    [Assist instructor X with the creation of a scroll/potion. Requirements: adept in Scroll-making, Alchemy, etc.]


    These mission''s rewards were up to the instructor to give, and the minimum was 30 points. Technically, the instructor could give a million points, but that seemed unlikely.


    And the fourth side of the wall included fighting, hunting and other such battle rted things and the rewards varied from 50 to 1000 contribution points. There was even a mission that tasked the child to survive against an instructor for five minutes for 100 points.


    All these missions required the child to perform under the supervision of an adult, since no one wanted their future mages to die a premature death.


    From what Evin could see, every instructor posted a mission and set a base requirement for the children. For example: the instructor could specify that the mission takes must be an above average quarter-core and that there must be a total of at least 10 people taking a guest.


    So, there would be ten dots under the mission details, representing ten children who could take the mission. Some of the dots would be lit up, indicating that someone else had taken the mission, and that they were only waiting for other people to fill in the gaps.


    As for solo missions, they were much rarerpared to the ones that required many people, but the amount of solo or duo missions increased as the rewards went up.


    ''It''s a system that encourages teamwork and adaptability, conforming to the Paradra''s policy. But, they make sure to reward the individual geniuses as much as they can,'' Evin noted in his head and looked at the missions with interest.


    Evin could even see Losha''s mission:


    [Participants must be peak quarter-cores and the number of participants must be 15. Every student must fight against instructor Losha in an enclosed environment for 20 minutes and stay conscious. Even if only one of the students survived, everyone would get 500 points]


    Out of the 15 dots that were located underneath, only 3 of them were lit, showing how unwilling the students were to fight this certain instructor.

 Chapter 105: The three half-cores

    Chapter 105: The three half-cores


    ''Isn''t this just Child abuse with extra steps? Well, I guess she hates everyone, not just us'' Evin smirked as he read the mission description and registered his name on the paper. Arza followed suit and there were now 5 lit dots on the mission paper. Suddenly, two copies of the mission paper appeared and fell into Evin and Arza''s hands.


    [Await for minimum number of students is reached] the paper said.


    "10 more children and we get to have our asses handed to us," Evin joked and looked towards the mission that rewarded the most points.


    [Hunt an ox-type peak tier-3 Mana Beast under the supervision of Instructor Zakhlo. Participants must be at least half-core and have experience fighting and hunting. Rewards: 1000 contribution points each. Number of participants: 5]


    The mission post said and there were three lit dots under the mission paper.


    Tier-3 mana beast meant that its mana output was equal to a half-core. "Peak" meant that the beast could chunk out close to 100 kg of mana if it wanted to. Technically, it was stronger than even Rith, but since it couldn''t ess the World and createplex spells like humans, it was possible for greenhorn half-cores like Evin and Arza to have a chance against it.


    ''Perfect,'' Evin thought as he registered for the mission. Arza did so as well, and the five dots all lighted up in unison.


    Evin still had two weeks before sses started and this was a great way to test out his half-core in battle. Though, he did think that there wouldn''t be much difference, since the size increase was minimal.


    He was also interested in the three other half-cores in the Tribe Grounds.


    Realizing that the two they were taunting were half-cores, the children who wanted to mess with Evin and Arza decided that maybe it wasn''t worth it for the time being. They should at least make their decisions after they see what the two were capable of in the mission.


    A copy of the mission appeared on Evin''s hands and differently from Losha''s mission, which only said to wait for further children to register, this one told Evin to meet with Instructor Zakhlo.


    Evin went to the lobbyist and asked where he could find the Instructor and they were directed towards a room in the staff''s living quarters.


    His destination decided, Evin went to pick up Rith, who was buried in children.


    "Please put me in your shadows," the Cosmic pleaded.


    Rith had a soft spot for children, so she could only let the little children do as they wished. Evin opened up his shadow, and the Cosmic promptly slipped inside, disappearing from the eyes of the kids.


    Contrary to the tantrum that Evin expected, the children looked at Evin with awe and adoration.


    They were told that Cosmics were super strong entities, and someone who could put them inside their own shadow must be someone strong and powerful.


    It was now Evin''s turn to be buried in the children''s questions.


    Twenty minutester, the Evin and Arza were standing in front of a two-story mini-mansion, finally freed from the kids.


    The mansion exuded a kind of unapproachable aura to it. Tall iron fences protected the building inside which was built with a ssical design and painted in a regal purplish color, with white marble decorations.


    ''The whole building gives off that high-ss feeling to it'' Evin judged.


    Evin tried opening the iron fence''s doors, but found that it was locked with some mechanism. But there were lights and some movement inside the mansion, so Evin guessed that the instructor must be inside. Evin knocked somewhat lightly on the fence, hoping that the man inside would be able hear him but it didn''t seem to be working that well.


    Just as he was debating on whether he should just shout at the man, a boy''s voice came from behind him.


    "There should be some sort of button on the fence," it said.


    Evin turned around and saw a prince-like blonde boy walking towards the mansion. He had curly hair and a sharp-looking a kind of experienced gaze. The clothes he wore were obviously created by a needle worker who had someone important in mind. Extravagant, golden threads giving depth and style to a royal blue shirt and trouserbo.


    Taking his mind off the boy for a bit, Evin looked around the fence and found a little ck button in one of the solid parts of the fence. He pushed the button, and a sound seemed toe off inside the house.


    ''Can''t believe I''m getting out-teched in the medieval ages'' Evin thought self-depreciatingly.


    "Thanks for the tip," Evin said to the boy. A closer look suggested that the boy was of simr age to the Evin.


    "Are you two new students?" the boy asked, scrutinizing the two boys with idle interest.


    "Yep, just came today. Saw a mission that were only for half-cores and got interested. Name''s Evin, by the way," Evin replied.


    "I''m Arza," the red-haired boy introduced himself.


    "Nice to meet you, my name''s Bardom Sekan," the boy introduced himself.


    "So, I''m assuming you''re here for the mission as well," Evin asked.


    "Yep. The mission for half-cores... Pretty sure Instructor Zakhlo put it up there knowing that there were only three half-core children in the Tribe grounds. He''ll probably be mad at you two," the boy said with a smile.


    "Is that so? Are the instructors forced to create missions for the children here?" Evin asked.


    "Something like that. The level of difficulty is decided randomly for each instructor every month. When an instructor gets the half-core level difficulty, they could literally create any kind of mission they want, provided that they''re able to clear the mission themselves and the mission takers are suitablypensated"


    "Usually we get some nice and rewarding solo or duo missions since the difficulty and the amount of points can''t be too high, but sometimes the instructor who creates the mission decides to do something impossible to undertake and just take a break for the month," Bardom finished exining and the door of the mansion seemed to open up.


    A tall man with a thin build opened the door, clearly agitated with the sudden visitors. The man''s hair was a mess, and he was still in his casual clothes, it seemed. A smell of sweat and bodily fluids came from the man, forcing Evin to wrinkle his nose.


    "And who are you supposed to be?" Zakhlo asked.


    Evin showed the mission paper around and after a brief nce, the man nced through its contents and snorted with dissatisfaction.


    "So, new half-cores in the Tribe, huh? Sure you''re up to the task at hand?" Zakhlo asked with a sneer.


    ''What an annoying man I understand that I disturbed your private time, and I would also be mad if it happened to me, but please don''t take it out on a child,'' Evin thought and pulled out a horn of an ox from his storage ring. Residual mana oozed from the horn, indicating that it was the horn of a mana beast.


    "Horns of an peak tier 2 ox-type mana beast. I hunted it when I was a beginner mage," Evin exined. Tier 2 obviously referred to quarter-core level. Evin hunted the beast under Ssatsko''s supervision, but Evin had done all the trapping and fighting himself.


    Evin remembered taking the beast''s eyes out with his magic and then hacking at it with Karan.


    "Whatever. Call me when the other half-cores toe and we''ll decide on what to do," Zakhlo said offhandedly.


    A few minutes passed, and the two other children hade from the girl''s dorm. Surprisingly, the two seemed to be identical twins. Both of them had ck hair done in a short bob cut and wore simr clothes. The only differencey in the color of the clothing. One had a ck theme, and the other had a white theme.


    "These are Rantz Lerille and Koya Lerille, the two other half-cores in the Tribe," Bardom introduced. The girl in whites was Rantz and the girl in cks was Khoya.


    Evin and Arza introduced themselves as well.


    "Western half-cores?" Koya asked in Northern.


    "Yup," Bardom replied.


    "How strong are they?" the girl asked again.


    "Guess we''ll find out soon, eh?" Bardom shrugged.


    [What are they saying?] Evin asked Rith, who was sitting in his shadow.


    [They''re asking about your strength,] the Cosmic replied.


    Evin, satisfied that he wasn''t being badmouthed, went to the doorbell and pressed it again. As they waited for the instructor, they got to know each other a bit better, since they were about to participate in a group mission.


    Bardom was a World of Life and Earth mage, but was mostly proficient in closebat ording to himself.


    Rantz, the white clothed twin was a Luminous and Life mage, who specialized in healing and supporting. Koya, on the other hand, specialized in the World of Water and the Dark World. Although apparently, she never uses the Dark World, since it''s quite useless aside from some niche things for the time being.


    Soon after, Zakhlo came out again, but in a bit more presentable clothing and state this time.


    "You''ve all gathered. Seems we have two more half-cores in the academy, so let''s give them a warm wee," Zakhlo said in a monotonal way.

 Chapter 106: Beasts den

    Chapter 106: Beast''s den


    "Congrattions," said the three other children with deadpan faces, only Bardom showing some emotion.


    [Is this what oppression feels like?] Evinmented to Rith.


    [Wow, your shadow is sofortable. No wonder Karan wants to sleep in here all the time,] the Cosmic''s voice said,pletely unhearing whatever Evin said.


    ''Oppressed and ignored,'' Evinmented to his heart.


    "As you know, the mission forces you five to hunt a mana-beast under my supervision, but since the ox is located deep inside the Beast''s den, we will naturally have to take care of some beasts thate onto our way. Just think of them as the grunts you fight before the big boss or something, yeah?" the man talked like he was talking to a bunch of children.


    Evin was unamused and nced at the other children and saw that they seemed unamused as well.


    "When will we be leaving?" Koya asked.


    "Let''s just go now, there''s no point waiting until tomorrow," Zakhlo said and lead the group towards the "Beast''s den", while Bardom was introducing the ce to Evin and Arza.


    The Beast''s den was something akin to an open space zoo park located in a certain part of the forest, where the residents had the tendency to attack their visitors. Obviously, practically no one died in these grounds, as it was absolutely forbidden for children to go in there without supervision and all the peak Beasts were periodically culled, so that a tier-4 mana beast wouldn''t be born.


    The difference between a tier-4 and a tier-3 was like heaven and earth, as the Beast bes much more intelligent, allowing it to utilize its natural talents in a more intelligent way, almost like a mage.


    Evin wasn''t really that sure on the subject, since all he fought were tier 1 and 2 mana beasts, when he was a beginner mage. They weren''t really a threat to society, as they were mostly normal beasts, who became a bit more powerful. Aside from the mana strengthening the body of the beast, the smartest thing they could do was to cover their fangs or horn with mana and considerably increase their lethality. Aside from that, they weren''t really anything impressive.


    Anyway, this mission wasn''t something that he had to worry about. Reaching the Beast''s den, the group entered after Zakhlo opened the big metal gate with his special badge meant for teachers.


    Evin wasn''t really worried about the dangers in the forest and didn''t wake Karan from his sleep, since he was confident in being able to deal with most beasts and mages by himself. Obviously, someone who specialized in the Luminous World was a bad match for him, but Evin reckoned that he would be able to put up a good fight against the users of other Worlds.


    He also didn''t wish to involve Rith in this, as the instructor might use her as an excuse to disqualify Evin.


    The group walked silently until they finally found a rabbit-type mana beast roaming through the forest. The beast looked like it had consumed something filled with mana, as the crazed eyes with countless red veins growing on its retina indicated its rabidness. Judging from its size, it was only tier 2.


    Mana beasts which absorbed mana into its body over time in a mana rich environment, usually ended up stronger than the one who had consumed a mana lodestone by ident. They also turned out to be much smarter and calm. Their bodies wouldn''t change drastically and they would continue their lifestyle, whether it was a herbivore or a carnivore.


    The crazed ones, on the other hand, would not show any timidness or wariness that their normal, or sane counterparts showed. If they ever saw something moving, they would simply attack them with the intention to feed. Even herbivores would grow some unnaturally sharp teeth and leave their vegetarian lifestyle behind.


    A mana beast''s favorite food seemed to be the other members of its kind and also mages, with their mana-cores and the usual stash of mana lodestones.


    This rabbit wasn''t any different.


    The beast dashed towards Rantz, perhaps because she looked to be the smallest of the bunch. Rantz panicked slightly, but took on a white hue and a bright light was created right in front of the rabbit''s eyes. Suddenly blinded, the beast stumbled and ran into the ground. Rantz then pulled out a little knife out of her pocket and stabbed the slightlyrge rabbit square in the chest and promptly backed away, afraid of the beast''s retaliation.


    Evin nced at the girl and saw her hands shivering slightly, which she tried her best to suppress.


    ''Guess they''re still kids, unused to fighting and killing, huh,'' Evin thought and looked at the rabbit.


    The poor thing screeched on the ground, struggling and trying to dash away, but the knife lodged in his body did not allow it the freedom of movement. The blood that was gushing out of the rabbit''s blood was also sizzling slightly, indicating that the knife used was coated in some sort of acidic solution. Soon after, the rabbit died and Rantz went to pull out her knife and wiped it with some special cloth.


    "Not bad but you should think of what you will do if many enemies attack you," Zakhlomentedzily.


    The group continued walking after burying the animal and putting a few tree seeds on the pile of dirt, as per the school''s instructions.


    "I''ll fly up and scout ahead," Evin proposed.


    "Hmm, I''m afraid I won''t be able to allow that, as the participants must always be within my sight," Zakhlo refused.


    "Then I''ll at least float a bit high in the air, without leaving your vision. A bird''s eye view won''t hurt to have," Evin said and the instructor reluctantly agreed.


    Evin flew up after he had pulled his shadow to his body, so he wasn''t disconnected from the individuals inside it. Evin did some tests on it before, and the further his shadow fell, the weirder it felt for Karan and the World Sprites inside.


    High in the air, Evin could see the general outline of the Tribe grounds and Beast''s den. He curiously looked around and saw some kids in the open areas of the Tribe grounds who were also eyeing him with curiosity. He then focused on finding his target.


    Sadly, he couldn''t see any ox-type creature from where he was, but he could see the fresh body of an antelope nearby. Chances were that the more bloodthirsty Beasts might get attracted to the smell of blood, so it wouldn''t hurt to wait near the area.


    He was about to get down, but a prettyrge bird-type mana beast was approaching Evin silently and swiftly. It seemed to be newly evolved tier-3. Evin nced downwards for a bit to see that the instructor who was saying that Evin had to always be within his vision was nonchntly talking to Bardom and Rantz, not even noticing the giant bird that was flying in the air. Arza seemed to see the beast, but ignored it, knowing that the bird wasn''t a threat.


    ''What''s the point of me staying in your vision if you can''t even help me if I need it,'' Evin thought before he turned the bird weightless and started suffocating it of the air around it. The boy realized that this was by far the easiest way to win a fight against mana beasts.


    The avian was seemingly screeching, but almost no sound was heard, since an area around it had turned to vacuum. It couldn''t even move away, since there were no air particles it could p its wings on.


    Evin floated downwards, with the now dead bird falling down with him. As the shadow of the bird fell on the ground, Zakhlo finally nced upwards. He tried to say something, but Evin cut him off.


    "Since you won''t be looking at me either way, I''ll be scouting on ahead. Are there any problems?" Evin asked.


    Zakhlo seemed offended by the words, and swiftly replied.


    "I saw what had happened, and simply wanted to see how you would handle it"


    "Oh, then please tell me how I killed the mana beast?" Evin said in a mocking tone.


    With the question thrown at him, Zakhlo''s mind started spinning full throttle. He nced at the dead bird and saw that there was not a single wound on the Beast, like it had just died in midair for no apparent reason.


    ''Did he find a dead bird somewhere?'' Zakhlo thought briefly and thought that this was the most usible option, since he couldn''t even hear anything.


    "You found a dead bird from somewhere, and brought it here," Zakhlo said, with full confidence in himself.


    Evin smirked with condescension and replied sarcastically.


    "Sure, why not? Anyway, I also found a dead deer close by, and thought that perhaps the ox mighte nearby. How do you say we get close and wait there for a bit?" Evin asked with a fake smile.


    Zakhlo was slightly irritated, but didn''t pursue the matter, and the group went near the dead deer''s body and waited patiently. It was still early in the day, and there was lots of time for the children to wait.

 Chapter 107: Unreliable teammates

    Chapter 107: Unreliable teammates


    Evin and Arza munched on some jerky as they took ces scouting around, and the other three children were also eating one thing or another from their storage devices. Sometimes talking in Northern. Evin would read through some info from the two Northern mage books that Losha gave him during his free time.


    A few minutes passed and a few Mana Beasts approached the carcass and started fighting over it, none of them noticing the group of children waiting on the trees. The final winner was some sort of bear-type beast.


    Half an hourter, when the group was debating on whether they should switch ces in a hush, Arza pointed towards a humongous ox that was nearing the area.


    An absolute unit of a bull was imposingly strolling through the forest, and its red-veined eyes locked on the bear-type Beast that was feasting on the carcasses of other animals. It snorted hot air and its front feet scratched the ground, dering its lethal intents.


    The bear nced back and also prepared to fight but everyone watching the fight knew that the ox would win without question.


    There was a thickyer of mana oozed from the bull in a one-step radius, which kind of worked as a kind of deterrent for when mages tried to cast spells on it.


    Since the bull was a peak tier-3 mana beast, it could be said that there was a solid 90 or so kgs of mana inside its body, and certain part of that oozed out of the beast''s body, creating a special barrier around it. The barrier would be able to dampen the effects of World created spells around it, which meant that it kind of worked like a spell disrupting force, preventing Evin from simply suffocating the creature to death.


    But it didn''t mean that the Beast was invulnerable to magic. One either had to overpower it, or they had to create a phenomenon, and lodge it at the beast after making sure that the phenomenon was free of mana.


    World of Earth mages excelled at such things. A World of Water mage could also conjure some hard-hitting icicles.


    Getting back to topic, the fact that the bear did not emit mana from its body meant that it was simply a lower tier creature than the ox.


    The brief battle started, and the bear tried to swipe at the ox with his giant hands, but the raw power contained in the ox''s body was simply too much for the bear to handle. After a few shes, the bear''s guts were sprawled on the ground by the bull''s deadly horns.


    The group watched from above the trees and everyone silently prepared their attacks after subtly nodding at each other. The two girls pulled out simr looking knives, ones that seemed to be designed for throwing this time, while Bardom started casting a spell. It was an Earth spell that created a bunch of deadly stone drills. Arza was absorbing Life energy like crazy, while holding his sorbothium short sword tightly in his hands.


    Evin didn''t really have anything to do for the time being, as he was sure that his air bullets wouldn''t really be able to do anything to the bull. He also couldn''t suffocate the bull, because of the mana barrier. And he felt that using the Dark World was a bit overkill.


    "I''ll fly in to save you if any of you look to be in danger, and look out for other Beasts in the area," Evin said.


    Bardom and the girls shrugged and sent their attacks towards the Mana Beast. Evin could see some mockery and disapproval from behind their expressions, but he really couldn''t care.


    The Mana Beast, who was eating its prey, was suddenly struck with countless drill shaped rocks out of nowhere and to make matters worse, there were even some metallic objects that would burn its skin when it came into contact. Although it was strong enough that these attacks wouldn''t be able to hurt it seriously, its pride was hurt for allowing these puny attacks tond on its body.


    It furiously eyed towards the direction of an attack and found a group of little two-legged creatures sitting on top of a tree branch, throwing rocks and metallic objects with some unknown method. The bull dashed towards the tree, and head-butted it with its horns with all its might.


    A loud cracking sound came off from the tree and it cracked at the base with this furious attack from the bull. Splinters of wood scratched at Evin''s cheeks and the tall tree fell down shortly after.


    ''That''s some strength,'' Evin whistled as he floated and looked around the battlefield.


    Arza was already on the ground, deftly trading blows with the beast. Arza was trying to hit the ox''s body, but it apparently knew that the metal object was dangerous, and was stubbornly facing towards the red-haired boy, blocking every attack with its horns or its thick skull.


    Bardom, deciding that his rock pellets were useless against this opponent, had pulled out an estoc from somewhere and was jabbing at the beast from its side. Evin guessed that the boy had stronger magic methods, but he preferred to use his body for the time being.


    ''They should''ve just aimed for the bull''s eyes, I don''t know why they would aim at its hide''


    The two girls were keeping their distance, with Rantz uncontrobly shaking with evident fear and chaos in her eyes, supporting herself on some tree trunk. Koya seemed fine, though, as the ck-clothed girl was holding his twin sister close while also keeping an eye on the bull.


    ''Did the strike against the tree scare her that much?'' Evin thought. He was debating whether he should wake Karan up from his slumber, but he decided to wait and see what he can do without the skinshifter.


    "Do you have a spell with some oomph in it?" Evin asked Koya.


    "I have a big World of Water spell, but I''ll need a minute," the girl answered.


    "Okay, we''ll keep the thing busy for you," Evin said and joined the two other boys in harassing the bull, with a slim sorbothium spear in his hands.


    Since Evin could fly and freely change his weight in the air, he could deal some heavy damage to the bull''s back.


    Obviously, the poor animal couldn''t retaliate against a flying opponent, and could only take a beating passively. But Evin noticed that the bull''s wounds were healing up pretty quickly and efficiently. A little too quickly.


    Mana Beasts naturally had a stronger physiquepared to other animals, and only needed a few dozen minutes and an ample source of mana to heal some injuries and cuts, but the bull''s healing was greatly surpassing the norm.


    ''Is it smarter than it appears and knows how to use the mana towards healing itself?'' Evin thought as he watched.


    But if the bull was smart enough to do that, surely it wouldn''t have such a deep red color to its eyes...


    ''Or did it absorb a World of Life Sprite somewhere?'' Evin thought before scratching that idea. If it absorbed one World Sprite, it should have at least a dozen more as well, giving it a much stronger pink shade.


    It was impossible for World Sprites to exist individually, and the ones that were somehow separated from the group would disappear without a trace, bing something that was made only out of energy. Mages experimented a lot with the little creatures, and they obviously knew a lot about them.


    Scratching all the above, only one thing was possible.


    Evin nced at Zakhlo. The man was trying to uphold an image of a calm and uninvolved bystander, but Evin could feel that there was something weird about how the man was acting. The man stood still on the ground, unnaturally focused on the fight with the bull. He wasn''t even looking around for new mana beasts that mighte because of themotion.


    ''Is he helping the ox?'' Evin realized.


    ''How is he bypassing the mana barrier around the Mana Beast, then?'' Evin thought before realizing the solution.


    "Arza, can you feel an increase of Life energy around here?" Evin asked


    The red-haired boy was happily testing his might against the ox, but still replied to the sudden question.


    "Yeah! It feels amazing!"


    "Hey, can you stop healing the damn bull?!" Evin shouted at Zakhlo. The man wasn''t affecting the ox directly with healing magic, as that was a very inefficient task. He was simply filling the area with Life energy, and the ox who absorbed mana from the air naturally, was now absorbing the Life energy that was scattered around.


    "I judged that it was a bit too easy for experienced hunters like yourselves. And besides, I feel bad for the poor thing, being bullied by five half-cores," the man said without shame.


    ''Fucking child,'' Evin cursed in his head and started thinking of a way to kill the bull. He then noticed that Bardom had seemingly stopped attacking and was bringing up some unknown device from somewhere and was fiddling around with it.

 Chapter 108: The unnecessarily complicated fight

    Chapter 108: The unnecessarilyplicated fight


    Rantz, hearing the teacher''s words, was shocked silly.


    ''Why is he helping the ox?! Are you trying to make us fail?!'' she raged in her little heart.


    She always had a hard time fighting in an uncontrolled environment. Even though she was raised as one of the sacred twin heirs of the Dark-lux Tribe and received so many resources for herself, obviously she never met a situation that was deadly for her and didn''t spend all her time training like a maniac.


    She would much prefer to y around with her friends and Koya, perhaps read through some interesting books and then indulge in sweets.


    Rantz only agreed to put her name in this mission since Koya had registered and she also guessed that it wouldn''t be taken.


    But it didn''t mean that she waspletely clueless when it came tobat, since she did receive proper training, but it could be called a miracle if she managed to perform them without ending up like a mess, or shaking uncontrobly.


    The current situation was the perfect example.


    The bull''s charge towards the tree was so powerful that Rantz could still feel the vibrations through her bones. It was a wonder that her instincts took over and she jumped sideways.


    Usually, she would just stand still like an idiot,pletely shocked and motionless. Rantz shuddered to think what would happen if she did that a minute ago. An image of her lifeless body hanging from the bull''s horns appeared in her mind.


    ''It''s all because of those two Westerners!'' she thought with vehemence.


    If Evin and Arza did not ept the mission all willy-nilly, she wouldn''t be here, and if the ck-haired kid wasn''t such a snarky brat, the teacher wouldn''t be interfering with the fight.


    Thinking so, she nced at the fight that was happening. Somehow, the red-haired boy was trading blows with the bull on equal strength, never letting it take the advantage. It was even more weird, since the bull was mostly using his whole body to charge, but the boy was deflecting the attacks with only the swings of his sword.


    ''How the heck is he so strong? Doesn''t that mean that his every strike can smash down trees like the bull?'' Rantz thought, but the ck-haired kid was the one that''s even more surprising.Evin flew through the sky like he was born airborne. Raw strength could be exined by resources, but the skill that Evin showed was not something that could be replicated through resources. Even if the boy received a Scroll designed for teaching to learn, the act of flying was something that was simply too unnatural to humans.


    Rantz knew how difficult it was to float, since she had tried to do so herself in the past, but most of her attempts ended up with her uncontrobly flying into something, or simply ending up without knowing up from down. And flying with a weapon was a wholly different beastpared to flying alone.


    Even though her body and the weapon would be weightless, trying to swing it around would usually end up with her fumbling around in the air, since the simple act of moving without weight was such a foreign concept to the human mind, let alone trying to performbat maneuvers. Moreover, even if she managed to hit her target by spending half her lifetime of luck, the damage done would be practically negligible, which lead Rantz to think that floating was only good for running away, or traveling great distances.


    But the boy in front of her was casually destroying everything she believed about fighting in the air.


    Even though the fact that Evin was floating meant that he was weightless, every one of his jabs with the spear would leave a huge wound on the bull''s body, ones which were even bigger than the wounds that Bardom managed to create with his estoc. Wounds that Bardom inflicted, after dashing a good three or four steps for some extra oomph.


    Rantz did not have much time to think, as Koya''s big spell was finally ready. Arge icicle, one which was created with special runes inscribed on its body, started appearing above the ck clothed girl.


    "Pull the bull closer to Koya!"


    The ck-haired boy had noticed that the spell was ready, so he was trying to bring the beast closer, so Koya could get a clean shot.


    Although Rantz was happy that the fight would be over soon, she still hated the idea of such a huge beast getting closer to her.


    With some maneuvering, the three were able to create the perfect opportunity for Koya to shoot her spell.


    After a good thwack to the bull''s head, Arza managed to catch the bull''s horns and keep it in ce. Evin used the Heavy World to make Arza heavier, so they bull couldn''t just throw him off. Since making something heavier was much harder than making something lighter, Evin had to use practically all of his mana-core to achieve such a feat.


    Koya did not hesitate and therge icicle flew towards the bull at incredible speeds. It lodged itself into the top area of the bull''s front legs, where the heart was generally located.


    Rantz saw the bull thundering around because of the pain, violently thrashing at everything in its surroundings. The red-haired boy would definitely not end up well if he got caught up in that, so the flying one swooped down and picked the boy up.


    Rantz sighed in relief at the sight. Now, they just had to wait for the bull to run out of energy and die.


    But the scene that everyone expected did not happen. And as if mocking the girl''s hopes of victory, the bull seemed to be even stronger than before. Its wounds were healing in seconds, and the giant icicle had almost been pulled out thanks to some unknown forces.


    "Fucker!" the ck-haired boy spat out and the bull suddenly started moving weirdly. It struggled to stand on its feet, its red-veined eyes looking even more strained than before. It tried to thrash around, but it seemed unable to do so. Like it was unable to breathe.


    Then, whatever that was suffocating the bull suddenly stopped, and it breathed in a huge amount of air and was seemingly okay now.


    Rantz had no idea what was happening anymore. But that wasn''t the end of her worry as cries of bird-type mana-beasts surrounded the area.


    ''Have theye here because of themotion that is happening?'' the girl thought with dread.


    Five huge birds were flying over the group, hungrily eyeing the people struggling on the ground.


    "Hey, you fucking piece of shit! Can you stop invigorating the bull already?! There''s a bunch of Tier-3 birds over our head!" the ck-haired boy shouted again but the bull showed no signs of weakening.


    Hearing the boy''s words, Rantz finally understood what was happening.


    At first, Zakhlo couldn''t outright heal the bull since it was covered in its oozing mana. But now, he could simply use healing spells on the bull, since the spell that Koya threw at the bull had considerably weakened it, making it so that the mana around the bull was used up and had stopped oozing outside. Not only that, the mana in the air was gradually reced by the huge amounts of Life energy that the instructor was throwing out, making the healing process much more effective.


    ''Why!?'' Rantz screamed internally, realizing what was happening.


    "You two keep the bull busy! Koya, prepare that spell again! I''ll take care of the birds!" Evin shouted suddenly.


    Arza immediately resumed trading blows with the bull, while Bardom supported from the sidelines. Koya started focusing on the spell, fully trusting Evin''s guarantee.


    Rantz didn''t know when her twin sister started trusting this stranger boy so much, but she was feeling d that her name wasn''t shouted, but then felt slightly bad for it, before thinking about how the boy was going to deal with five tier 3s.


    The flying boy did not keep her waiting and flew straight upwards, into the flock of giant birds.


    ''That''s suicide!'' Rantz thought, her face pale.


    All five the birds dived towards the ck-haired boy, an unseeming smirk on all of their faces But instead of the ravenous feeding that Rantz had expected, the birds showed a simr condition that the bull was showing earlier. Confusion and panic painted their expressions, before all five of them fell limp in only two minutes.


    Now Rantz was seriously confused.


    ''The boy used the same spell on the bull, but the bull broke free of it somehow. Wait, no! The instructor must have canceled it. If he didn''t then the bull would have fallen dead in only a minute. What kind of spell is it!?'' Rantz thought with some awe and greed.


    In that two-minute span, Koya had already prepared the spell and was working on strengthening it even further.


    The ck-haired boy, who was already finished with the five Beasts,nded beside Rantz''s twin sister and whispered something in her ears.


    Thetter looked slightly surprised, but nodded after a little while.


    "Arza! Once more! Pull the bull closer to Koya!" Evin shouted next.


    The same process took ce, and Rantz was curious to see what was different now. Another chance appeared soon after, and Evin and Koya nodded at each other subtly.


    Rantz carefully looked at the battle and saw that the shadow under the ck-haired boy was getting thicker and more viscid, like it had be some sort of liquid, moving around impatiently. It looked almost alive, giving Rantz an eerie feeling.


    ''Is that his special ability?'' the girl thought and wondered how the boy was going to attack the bull with the Dark World. She looked at Koya and saw that her twin sister was preparing tounch her spell against the enemy.


    Evin''s shadow then started moving through the grounds, but it didn''t move towards the bull, and instead moved towards the instructor. After the shadow surrounded the man, it started to rapidly climb upwards. Koya had also thrown her spell at the bull in perfect unison with the boy''s Dark spell.


    Evin''s Dark spell was full functional now and a tall, ck, tunnel like thing appeared inside the forest. A loud snapping sound came from inside, followed by a pause, and the ck-haired boy swearing in Western in a confused tone.


    Rantz wondered what had happened, but focused on the effects of Koya''s spell.


    The icicle hit true, and the bull started thrashing around. But this time, it did not start regenerating, as there was no one trying to heal it. It thrashed about for a few dozen seconds before it fell to the ground with a loud thud. Rantz could feel the air be a bit denser with the mana that came out of the bull''s body.


    Arza got close and decapitating the bull with a deft strike. It didn''t take much effort, as the bull''s hide and muscles weren''t strengthened by any mana anymore.


    She then looked towards thepletely ck area where Evin had trapped the instructor. The tall walls were pulsating slightly, and Rantz would get a feeling that something was looking at her from inside the Dark room.


    "What is that thing?" Bardom asked Arza.


    "I don''t know exactly But it has something to do with World Sprites," Arza replied.


    The boy''s words surprised Rantz and Koya.


    ''Was the boy simr to them?'' they thought in unison.


    Soon after, the dark area disappeared, and the four saw the ck-haired boy standing with a shocked face.


    "What happened?" Bardom asked.


    Evin looked back, an unbelieving expression on his face.


    "I seem to have killed the instructor," the boy replied, making some weird expression.

 Chapter 109: Hearing

    Chapter 109: Hearing


    Hearing Evin''s words everyone was shocked beyond belief.


    "What?" Bardom asked with an unbelieving face and got closer. He saw something behind the boy and started gagging uncontrobly at the sight of something.


    Rantz debated looking behind the boy herself, but something told her that she should probably refrain from doing so.


    Koya and Arza went over one after another. Her twin sister looked shocked, but didn''t really gag or shiver at the sight.


    Rantz could see that the red-haired boy was taking it the calmest.


    In the end, her curiosity got the better of her, and she took a nce at the instructor''s body. Rantz could see something akin to a pole with countless holes around it, leaking blood unceasingly and painting the soil below with a dark red color.


    The hideous deformation somehow gave Rantz the impression that the man was squashed to death between two walls. There were also two giant holes in the instructor''s skull, and some other smaller ones throughout his body, hinting that the walls had spikes or something on them.


    Rantz stared nkly at the body for a few seconds, before her brain started working again.


    ''How am I not vomiting?'' was herst thought before she fell unconscious.


    An hourter, Evin was sitting inside Zorrik''s office, exining what had happened in the Beast''s den alongside Rith and the three other children, excluding Rantz, since she passed out and was sent to the infirmary. In front of him sat Zorrik, Losha, and two other instructors that Evin had never seen before. But from the reverent expressions of Bardom and Koya, Evin could guess that they were pretty important people.


    They were both elders, one male and one female. The male had a long white beard that went down to his chest, a pair of dark-purple and golden horns that were as long as the man''s head. The man''s hands moved constantly. When he was sitting down, it would caress the chair that he was sitting on, or his fingers would start rhythmically pounding on it.


    The female, on the other hand, had a single blue horn on her head, with her white hair wrapped up in a braid. She wore thick clothes that were mostly made out of white fur, giving her a winter goddess type of feeling.


    Just like her exterior, her attitude was on the cold side as well.


    "Why are we even holding this hearing for this child? From what I can understand, he had juste to the Tribe today and had already killed one of the instructors. Just put him in the dungeons and get a confession out of him," she said offhandedly.


    "Lady Deminte," Zorrik whispered and said something to her ears. After hearing whatever it was, her expression turned sour and motioned Evin to continue.


    "As I''ve exined, the instructor was actively healing the peak tier-3 ox-type Mana Beast. He himself dered it so, after I noticed that the ox''s wounds were healing up much faster than normal and confronted him about it," Evin resumed exining, but inside his head, he was thinking about somethingpletely different.


    ''How did I end up killing the man?''


    "The instructor couldn''t outright heal the beast, since it was covered by the mana that was leaking from it, but he could rece the mana in the air with the energy from the World of Life. Arza here is an excellent World of Life mage, so he could easily notice the difference in the air"


    ''I wasn''t reallycking in options to deal with the Bull''


    "I instructed Koya to prepare a big spell, so we could take out the Bull in a single attack, while Bardom, Arza and me were trying to buy time and create an opportunity for a perfect shot," Evin said and the three other kids nodded.


    ''I could simply wake up Karan and stab the ox with his special attribute of nullifying healing effects''


    "We managed to seed and the World of Water spell was about to her the bull''s heart, but the instructor influenced the shot''s trajectory which lead to the bull barely surviving the attack. But the spell was still quite effective, as the mana surrounding the bull died out entirely"


    ''But I didn''t want to disturb the skinshifter''s sleep, so I chose not to''


    "But this allowed instructor Zakhlo to directly affect the bull and heal its body with much more efficiency. In a matter of seconds, our efforts were nullified, and the bull was even stronger. It had also learned that the Life energy was a good thing for him, and started actively receiving the instructor''s healing spells," Evin said. Bardom and Koya were surprised at how many things they didn''t notice during the fight. They could only tell that the Beast was healed, and they didn''t know that it had begun to recognize healing spells.


    ''Instead, I chose the most violent method possible,'' Evin thought.


    "I tried to suffocate the bull with a World of Storms spell, since it didn''t have the mana barrier around itself, but Zakhlo countered it. Then, five other tier-3 bird type Mana Beasts came near the area. At this point I pleaded for the instructor to stop, but he ignored me. Thankfully, I was able to suffocate and kill the new beasts with my spell, since they weren''t protected by a mana barrier like the ox"


    ''I decided to engulf the man in darkness and maybe have the Blood''s will bite off his leg or something''


    "At this point I realized that I had to somehow take the instructor''s attention off the bull, before attempting to kill it, so I instructed Koya to attack the beast after I distract Zakhlo. When the opportunity came, I engulfed the man in my shadows and used my personal Dark World spell against him. I don''t wish to reveal the details of the attack, but I can assure you that the attack was never strong enough to kill a half-core in one hit like that," Evin concluded.


    ''Instead of the small bite at his legs that I expected, a huge maw, much bigger than the man himself, appeared from inside my shadows and snapped shut on the man,'' Evin thought with wonder.


    He hoped that his wondering expression would be taken as shock from the sudden killing by the Tribe Leader as he finished his story.


    "Is this true?" Zorrik asked Bardom and Koya.


    "Yes, that is what happened. I don''t know why instructor Zakhlo decided to do this, and why Evin identally killed him, but what Evin had said is not a lie," Bardom said, to which Koya nodded as well.


    Hearing the story, the listeners had a difficult expression on their faces.


    "We''ll need to see your spell, boy," the male Elder said in a deep voice.


    "Lord Nasst," Zorrik began, but was rebuked immediately.


    "I don''t care about the boy''s background, Zorrik. If he wishes to prove his innocence, he needs toply with the investigation. Else, we will not get anywhere with this whole ordeal"


    Evin heard the elder''s words and decided not to make things difficult for himself, as the longer this went on, the worse it would be for him. He was the one who killed the man, after all.


    "I want you to swear on your Oaths that you will not indulge information about my spell, if I''m to exin it," Evin said.


    "We can do that, but we may need to inform the higher-ranking people if this matter getsplicated," Zorrik said.


    "Don''t worry about that, you can direct them to me and I''ll exin it to them myself," Evin said. This way, they couldn''t do anything without Evin''s knowledge.


    Everyone in the room swore on their Oaths, and also made a written agreement with signatures and whatnot. Evin''s backing was strong enough for such things to be effective.


    Evin then turned a part of the ground into his shadows and got the Blood''s will out. Evin disabled the light absorbing feature of his shadows, so the people inside could clearly see the maw''s shape.


    It was a weird sight, to say the least. A floating mouth of an animal; with no eyes, ears, or any other part of its face intact. Just a single maw filled to the brim with dark fangs. Some fog-like substance was being emitted from around it, giving it an illusory and apparitional feeling.


    Unexpectedly, the maw was its normal size, the size of a normal fox. It happily floated near Evin, examining the others in the room with some wariness.


    Evin took note of the expressions that the people in the room had. The children were astonished to see the spell, while the adults'' eyes showed hints of greed.


    "This is the normal size of my spell. I ordered the maw to bite at the man''s feet, but when it actually attacked instructor Zakhlo, its size had increased almost tenfold,pletely engulfing him. Before I could react, the maw snapped shut and killed the man. Trust me, I''m just as confused as you all," Evin said, but the elder named Nasst just scoffed and started exining Evin''s mistake.

 Chapter 110: Master and Parting

    Chapter 110: Master and Parting


    "Of course it will kill the man in those circumstances. However you got your hands on this Blood, be thankful that you treated it well and that it somehow thinks of you as its parent. If it decided that you were a nuisance, you would have been consumed by the Blood''s will ages ago. It''s many times stronger than you, after all," Nasst eximed.


    Evin looked at the maw with some astonishment. He knew that the Blood''s will was strong, but not this much. Noticing the boy''s confused gaze, Nasst continued his exnation.


    "Since its intelligence is at the level of a rtively smart World Sprite, it felt your anger or annoyance towards the dead instructor and decided to make you happy somehow. And the best way it could think of was to kill him. If the source of your annoyance disappears, surely you will be happier"


    "I''ve been told that using a specialty will start affecting my magic. Is this one of those cases? Or is it something else" Evin pondered. If it was that strong from the beginning, he would have definitely noticed it. A tinge of fear appeared in Evin''s heart, but there was no regret. Even if using the Blood''s will forced him on a path of dyed death, it was still better than instant death.


    "It''s most likely because of the Time Bomb that you were affected by. Likely, the blood''s will was also affected and had grown to such sizes, without you realizing it," Zorrik said.


    "Oh, the boy''s rted to that incident, huh? Means he''s got Kena''s backing No wonder you were so insistent on giving him special treatment," Nasst nodded with a frown.


    World energy explosions weren''t a rare thing, but ones of that scale were considered rare, especially ones of Time energy. And since it happened near the City of Smog, anyone with the relevant information could take guess at what had happened.


    Losha, who was silent up to this point, subtly frowned at mention of Kena''s name.


    Zorrik then started talking about how to best conclude this whole matter.


    "From this, we can conclude that it was truly an ident. Moreover, instructor Zakhlo was also in the wrong for trying to affect the mission during its process. But that doesn''t mean that he deserved death for it, so you will have to formally apologize to his familyter. There will also be a Death Gratuitypensation, so be prepared for that," the man said.


    Evin nodded withoutint. It was the least he could do.


    "By the way, boy, aren''t you one of the Empress'' Children? Why do you need to participate in the normal sses?" Nasst suddenly asked, confused.


    Hearing the familiar term, the faces of the children in the room were filled with an understanding expression. Evin also noticed Arza making a confused face alongside them.


    "I wasn''t a mage before," Evin answered shortly.


    "So what? It still isn''t an excuse for you to waste your time on basic things. Actually, boy, if you''re interested, I will be willing to take you under my wing; teach you all about magic personally. It''s hard to see you waste your talent like that alongside children. Besides, you''re most likely a terrible influence on the little critters," Nasst said suddenly.


    The elder man''s words cause thedy named Deminte to stare at the Nasst with bottomless detestation.


    "It seems the puppeteer eyes his new doll Boy, you''d do well to best choose who you associate with," she said in a threatening tone.


    "Don''t be a hypocrite, witch," Nasst was quick to jab back at the woman.


    Zorrik, sitting in the middle, sighed noiselessly.


    "Make your own choice, Evin. You can choose to study with the other children in a safe and protected environment, or you could chase after the strong and take the faster path. I can''t tell you which of the two choices is the correct one but remember that help does note free"


    Zorrik had told Evin a lot of relevant information.


    ''If I choose either of them, I will be able to be stronger faster, but there will be strings attached to my strength On the other hand, I could choose to keep myself safe and gradually be strong alongside the other children''


    But the problem with the safer path was that it took much longer, and most likely an insufficient one. Evin had just casually killed an instructor of the Tribe, and aside from some shock, he was a bit disappointed at the strength of the instructors. But thinking about it, Evin wasn''t here to be stronger, but to be more knowledgeable.


    ''But now that I think about it, even if I study alongside the children, there will still be some strings attached in the end,'' Evin realized. Instead of being tied to a faction in a country, Evin would be tied to the country itself. Free to use by every faction depending on the situation.


    "I''d like to study under Lord Nasst," Evin said after some thought.


    The female elder red at Evin briefly, but didn''t seem willing to pursue this matter.


    Evin only had two choices in this matter, to choose Nasst, or to choose Deminte. The cold olddy seemed friendly enough, but Evin''s choice was clear due to one thing. Their horns. Nasst had one for the Heavy World and the World of Space, while the elderdy only had one for the World of Water.


    Disregarding Evin''s dislike towards the World of Water, Evin actively used the Heavy World and was about to study under the Cosmics for the World of Space. The choice wasn''t hard to make.


    "Good choice," Nasst said andughed loudly to rub it in Deminte''s face, before addressing Zorrik: "Is there a ce for me to stay here?"


    "The deceased mage''s mansion in the staff area should be free for use, but" Zorrik said with some reluctance.


    "Don''t worry, I''ll take over the deceased instructor''s ss. There shouldn''t be any problems then, right?" Nasst offered.


    "Thank you, Lord Nasst. We''ll have it ready for you soon enough. The instructor''s sses focused on Multipart spells," Zorrik replied and Nasst just nodded offhandedly.


    "Well, boy, gather your stuff and meet me in my new mansion. Don''t worry about saying your farewells, you''ll mostly stay in the Tribe Grounds, anyway," Nasst said with a grin.


    The hearing ended soon afterwards, and Evin was deemed innocent. The people around dispersed and Evin walked back to his original room with Arza and Rith in tow.


    ''I suppose I should talk with Arza, huh?'' Evin thought. The talk was long overdue and the boy would hear about the Children of the Empress at some point in his life, anyway.


    Entering their room, Evin started talking to Arza about the Children of the Empress. Though, he didn''t tell him that he came from another World. He just said that he was a normal person who had the luck to be reincarnated as a mage.


    Arza was a bit confused at first, but epted Evin''s words much easier than most others.


    "I see. More importantly, since you''re going to be studying under that elder, who''s going to be with me?" Arza asked at the end, a bit shy.


    To someone unknowing, it might sound like Arza was acting spoiled, but Evin knew that he was just reluctant to part ways.


    "I''ll still be around most of the time, and also, there''s still Ssatsko in the school. Moreover, you would do well to make some other acquaintances. It wouldn''t do you well to spend all your time with old people like us. Go to sses, do missions and see what you can do alone," Evin said.


    "You just keep getting stronger and stronger How am I supposed to ever beat you?" Arza grumbled.


    "Well, now you know that it was never a fair fight. I had a lifetime of experience to draw up on, but you''re just a normal four-year-old. And if someone asks, I think you''re actually doing extremely well. Where did you see a four-year-old who can exchange blows with a peak tier-3 mana beast equally, huh? Don''t sell yourself short. You''re most likely the strongest kid in this whole ce," Evin said, looking up to the giant child.


    Evin pulled the boy''s head closer and whispered:


    "And hey, if I''m allowed to teach you what I learned, I''ll be sure to tell you all about it, okay?"


    The red-haired boy seemed a bit reluctant, but said nothing and started packing himself, since the two had bought a better room in the morning.


    Evin picked up the few things that he put inside his room and left with Rith in his shadows.


    [Are you sure it was okay to leave him like that?] the Cosmic asked.


    [Well It''s definitely out of expectations, but it had to happen sooner orter,] Evin said.


    He couldn''t spend all his time with the boy, and the boy shouldn''t be allowed to grow dependent on him.


    [I suppose you''re right,] Rith sighed from inside Evin''s shadow.


    Karan was still sleeping soundly. Evin didn''t know why, but the skinshifter would always be sleeping since the Time Bomb incident.


    Evin shook his head and headed towards Ssatsko''s new living quarters. It was located in the area that was designated for non-mage staff, so Evin it was a rtively long walk.

 Chapter 111: Lost passion

    Chapter 111: Lost passion


    Entering the area for non-mages, Evin was instantly surrounded by a variety of people. The ce was like a miniature town, with most of the residents being young children. All the children wore a simr badge to Evin''s but instead of the golden borders that mage children had, these kids had simple iron ones.


    Aside from the children, some adults who worked stalls and shops stood around as well. Some surprised eyes would nce at Evin as he walked, wondering what the hell a young mage was doing there.


    Evin didn''t mind the attention, as he leisurely walked through the small town, ncing at some people he found interesting. An undying habit from his days as a spirit.


    Unexpectedly, he smelled something nostalgic to his nose. He began eyeing around for the source of the smell. A secondter, he found his target.


    He saw a rtively fancy looking stall in the midst of a dozen others, and was immediately interested. The stall itself didn''t have much customers aside from a few men who loitered around the shop due to the shopkeeper, but it did have something that Evin cared about greatly.


    The Bronze Awakener, the stall''s name stood. There was also something akin to a logo, which simply depicted a fancy metal cup with some ck liquid inside, with a few lines that depicted steam. There were a few seats near the stall, clean and weing to visitors. On the counters of the shop, a dark brown substance was sittingfortably in a big ss container, beckoning Evin toe closer.


    Passion and want took over Evin''s body as he walked towards the stall like he was entranced. But after taking a few steps, Evin suddenly stopped, and started thinking furiously inside his head.


    ''No If I get into it now, by the time I''m 20 or something, I would probably need an ungodly amount to sate my addiction''


    ''Wait! I''m a mage! I can fix myself! I won''t be done in by mere substance abuse. Besides, it''s just a sip. I''ll be fine afterwards,'' Evin concluded with resolution and began towards the stall with deliberate steps.


    "How may I help you, young master?" a pretty woman who was standing behind some handmade wooden counter asked uncertainly. Evin saw her face, which was could be described as pretty, but not out of reach. She was the type of woman who wouldn''t be a showstopper, but would definitely arouse your attention. She wore a short tunic belted at the waist over a rather tight fitting pant, which showcased her fit, but somehow delicate frame moving about inside the stall, with great familiarity.


    "Could you tell me what''s inside those ss jars?" Evin asked, amused by the woman''s polite attitude towards mages.


    "Oh, these are called ground coffee beans. It''s bing a popr drink in Tower City, so we''ve decided to branch out towards the North," the woman said uncertainly.


    "But why branch out to a children''s institute? Aren''t coffee drinks much better suited towards adults, due to their bitter taste?" Evin asked, confused.


    "I''m surprised you know about coffee beans, young master. And as for your question, I''m surprised as well. But the owner of the main branch has ordered me toe here, and I will be getting paid regardless of sales, so I can''t reallyin," the woman replied.


    "Well, please prepare one cup for me," Evin ordered.


    "Do you want to mix in sugar and milk? I personally rmend the additions, since the drink is quite bitter for first time drinkers," the shopkeeper offered.


    "Don''t worry, just make me one with only coffee," Evin reassured and sat on one of the seats. After gettingfy, he started focusing inward.


    [Rith? What''s she saying? Is this my coffee shop?] he asked, confused.


    The Cosmic sighed from inside his shadows and exined.


    [It was supposed to be a surprise, but who would think that you would chance upon it this soon?] Rith tsked.


    [What?]


    [Well, the coffee shop started taking off in the Capital for the past month or so, making you extremely rich all of a sudden,] Rith began exining.


    ''Wait, where''s my money, then?'' Evin thought briefly, but let the Cosmic continue.


    [There were also some other rich people who started pressuring the shop owner there to ept other investors, but as you know, the man is deadly stubborn. He felt indebted to you, since you stuck with him throughout all those years and wished to keep your shares untouched. Besides, the shop was doing well enough, so they didn''t quite need the extra investors]


    [But then he noticed that the rich people in the city were starting to gather resources and researchers to create their own coffee blends, forcing the shop owner to consult the Cosmics, since we were the ones who connected you two in the first ce. In the end, we decided to pull a fast one on thesepetitors and etch the shop owner''s brand into the Empire,] Rith narrated.


    Evin could see the picture now.


    [The Shop owner decided to use his newfound wealth to train the staff and prepare the resources necessary for the shops. He now has a branch in every capital of the three countries. And we decided to gift him some extra coins to support one more stall here, with a prettydy and everything,] Rith finished.


    [Why a prettydy?] Evin asked, confused.


    Subconsciously, he took a nce at the shopkeeper''s back and then down towards her ass. Evin then looked around and the men around were doing the same thing. The shopkeeper acted oblivious to the stares and focused on the dripping hot water that fell through the filters. Since they didn''t have pressing machines, the process was slightly slowpared to modern Earth.


    [Do you like her?] Rith asked with an awkward smirk.


    [You know I''m six, right? Or were you nning to keep her secret until I was old enough,] Evin replied.


    [It sounded funny when we were talking about it, okay? Besides, I''m sure you''d prefer to interact with a prettydy, instead of some burly old man, right??] Rith retorted back.


    Evin just shook his head and waited for his old hobby to be served inside a cup for him.


    A minuteter, the drink was served.


    Evin took a sip of it and the nostalgic taste pervaded his mouth. He was surprised at how bitter the drink tasted,pared to thest time he drank coffee.


    ''A week of drinkingter, my taste buds would start ignoring the bitter taste and my brain would start demanding more. Gradually, one cup a day will be 2 cups a day, making it so that my body will be fully dependent on this substance,'' Evin dreadfully thought of his future. He didn''t know that coffee would have such an effect on him. He saw the coffee beans on the coffee shops, why didn''t his addiction re up like today?


    Evin somehow sighed in such a profound way, everyone who was looking at him were left stunned and confused.


    "Thanks for the coffee, what''s your name?" Evin asked suddenly.


    "R-Rhea, young master," the woman answered with a stutter and hurriedly added: "Also, the cup will cost you 60 bronze coins"


    Evin felt that it was a bit more expensive than normal, but considering the transport fees and the storage costs, the final price would probably end up looking like that. He then pulled out a silver coin and gave it to the woman.


    "Keep the change," Evin said and got up from his seat. He still had to go talk with his blood grandfather.


    "Thank you, uhh, young master?" Rhea asked, unsure of what Evin''s name was.


    "I''m Evin, umm, I''ll probably be a frequent customer here," Evin said and walked away, his face gradually turning red.


    A few stepster, Rith asked, confused.


    [Did you actually fall for her?]


    [No! That was so cringe! I can''t believe I said those things!]


    Evin just wanted to drink coffee, but now everyone in the Tribe would think that he was infatuated with the shopkeeper.


    He thought about the things that he did and could not help but realize that every action he took looked like some child with a crush.


    A young mage amongmon people, who walked specifically to the stall with a pretty shopkeeper, only to drink some disgustingly bitter beverage. He then asked for the shopkeeper''s name and then overpaid for the already expensive drink. Obviously, the men around must have tried the drink to impress the girl and found it extremely unamiable to their tastes, but still praised its exquisiteness.


    Evin realized that he also acted super weirdly before walking towards the stall, pausing suddenly and then decisively walking like he was hesitating over something. Helooked around and saw some men and women looking at him with a knowing smile.


    [Ugh!] Evin groaned in his head and walked faster.


    A few minutester, he reached the non-mage instructors'' living quarters that Ssatsko was supposed to be in. Evin asked for the old man from the guard, and got a room number.


    He knocked on the door, and was met with the old man who opened the door with a confused face.


    "Evin? What are you doing here? Where''s Arza and Rith?" the old man asked and invited Evin to his room.


    It was much simpler than the simple room that Evin and Arza had gotten previously. Although it was clean andfy, there was only a single bed and a desk inside, with a drawer for personal objects and a wardrobe for clothing.

 Chapter 112: Birthing

    Chapter 112: Birthing


    "Arza''s in one of the dorm rooms with a private training area. I''m going to be staying with an instructor, since he offered to teach me about magic privately," Evin answered.


    "Is that so? Congrattions, then," Ssatsko said.


    "Well, I just came here to tell you to keep an eye on Arza. Oh, and also, you''ll probably hear rumors about me killing an instructor," Evin said as calmly as he could.


    "Wait what? Is it true?" Ssatsko immediately turned serious.


    "Yes but it was an ident," Evin said and wanted to continue, but Ssatsko''s eyes widened and he leaned in closer.


    "Are you trying to run away?"


    "No-no-no. I just came from a meeting that included Zorrik and some two other bigshots. Their names were Nasst and Deminte. I exined what had happened, and they deemed it an ident. Anyway, the elder named Nasst got interested in me and decided to train me personally. Do you know anything about them?" Evin asked.


    "Not really Do you know how he looks like?" Ssatsko asked.


    "It''s an elderly-looking man with two horns, World of Space and the Heavy World," Evin said.


    "Doesn''t ring a bell, do you want me to ask around?" the old man offered.


    "Nah, it''s fine, I''ll be meeting him now, so I''ll ask him myself," Evin said and bid his farewells.


    He then headed back to the area designated for mages, while taking a considerable detour around the coffee stall he had just visited.


    But as he walked through one of the less upied narrow streets, he could feel someone''s eyes on his body, faithfully following his every move. His instincts would spur up randomly like this ever since he had received the Blood''s will from the Vulpine Mother.


    ''Who could it be?'' Evin wondered as he stealthily absorbed World energies from his Channeling artifact. He had kept the thing filled with energy throughout the day, since he didn''t wish to be met with sudden surprises unprepared. He had enough lodestones for the thing, anyway, so why not?


    Filling his eyes with Life energy to make it a bit sharper, he stealthily surveyed the surrounding streets.


    The hidden threat did not make him wait long, as the shimmer of a long dagger materialized above Evin''s head and stabbed down. Evin dodged to the best of his abilities, and took a nce at his assant, trying to guess at who they were.


    It was a pointless move, since whoever the assant was, he or she was covered in ck, leaving only their eyes open. On their helms, there were two protrusions with the shape of a horn, to presumably hide the color of their horns. Evin debated just running away, but Rith''s state inside his shadow was telling him that he could win this fight.


    [Do you have anything?] he asked Rith.


    [Nope, but I can tell that he''s quite weak,] the Cosmic repliedzily.


    Evin pulled out his favorite spear from his storage and tried to wake up Karan. But instead of the sleepy voice of the skinshifter, a painful groan resounded from inside his shadow.


    [Oh fuck, I think I''m giving birth,] Karan said suddenly.


    [What?] Evin asked, confused.


    [The man''s gonna stab you in the face~] Rith''s words forced Evin to focus on the man in front of him.


    The man''s figure shimmered slightly as he dashed, making it hard for Evin to focus on the person.


    Evin tried suffocating the man, but somehow, the man wasn''t affected in the slightest and kept dashing without issue.


    ''They know what I''m capable of,'' Evin didn''t bother with the spell anymore and focused on keeping the man at bay. Since he had a spear against the man''s knife, he had an overwhelming advantage over the man. He only needed to make sure that the man wouldn''t close enough that the spear''s length bes a hindrance to Evin.


    Making himself slightly heavier, Evin stabbed at the iing man. The assant dodged, but Evin swiped with his spear, aiming at the enemy''s neck. Evin''s spear was a bit special since instead of a spear-tip at the end, it had a short de, so Evin could also sh with it, instead of just stabbing. The man couldn''t ignore the attack, so he blocked with his dagger and grabbed Evin''s spear.


    After which, the man tried to pull the spear and alongside with it, Evin.


    ''Shit,'' the boy cursed and let go of the weapon. Instead of creating distance, Evin pulled out another dagger and closed the distance. Since the unwieldy spear was now in the hands of the enemy, Evin could get up close and personal without worry.


    The enemy was a bit shocked, but instinctively raised his hand with the dagger. After a few exchanges of blows, the two realized that Evin had the advantage in battle. Evin''s spear was also on the ground, since it was just a liability in super closebat.


    Evin''s biggest advantage was that his size was much smaller than the man, while also being extremely powerful thanks to the World of Life. It was extremely hard for the man to strike the boy sessfully because of that. And instead, one by one, wounds appeared on the assant''s body.


    Evin also noticed that the man was not using any magic, so Evin could tell that it was a normal person, or a Hornbearer of some sorts. Judging from the fact that the man appeared out of thin air in the middle of the street, Evin guessed that one of the horns was from the Dark World.


    ''Or perhaps there''s a special magical device used to cloak its users. The man didn''t use Darkness at all since then, after all,'' Evin thought.


    Realizing his situation, Evin decided to press on to his advantage. But before he got to that part, the man pulled out something from his chest pocket and threw it to the ground. Evin didn''t know what the object did, and he didn''t wish to test it out on his body, so he promptly dashed away.


    After a loud bang, brilliant light filled the small street, forcing Evin to fall into his own shadow, as he didn''t wish to be attacked by the man, while he was blinded.


    A few secondster, after realizing that the man had run away, Evin got out from his shadows. A crowd had gathered nearby, intrigued by the sound of fighting. Some had seen Evin''s fight from the beginning and were impressed at the child''s skills.


    Evin didn''t bother with them and went to pick his spear up from the ground.


    [Karan, you okay?] Evin asked.


    Evin could hear sounds of the man grunting and groaning asionally during the fight, which was honestly a bit distracting, but since the man was allegedly "giving birth" Evin didn''t wish to bring it up.


    [P-please give your shhadow more m-mana. I don''t want to give b-birth outside,] the man stuttered through some sniffles.


    ''Is my shadow a goddamn birth room?'' Evinined, but did as the man requested.


    [Please don''t look] the man then pleaded.


    Evin sighed and floated upwards. He then flew away towards the Tribe''s outskirts. Exiting the town under the surprised gazes of others, he found some remote ce and put down his Shadow Zone, making it slightly smaller but extra thick. There were no pulses or anything that seemed living inside the shadow, since Evin was just using the spell to guard from scrying eyes. Rith also got out of Evin''s shadow, since she was starting to feel very awkward.


    ''Ah, maybe it wasn''t the best idea to get to a deserted ce right after I was attacked,'' Evin thought, but hoped that the enemies would get confused and think it''s a bluff. Besides, he still had Karan to worry about.


    He asked if he could help with something, but was only asked to stay still and don''t do anything.


    After two hours, the groans had stopped, and Evin asked Karan if he could look inside.


    [I''ll get out myself to show you,] the skinshifter said and appeared beside Evin with another metal skinshifter that seemed to be made entirely out of some ck metal.


    Evin could feel traces of the Dark World running through the metal, reminding of the Luminous Sorbothium veins that the City of Nevernight had.


    "Was it created with some Dark affinity because it spent most of its time inside my shadow?" Evin asked.


    [I don''t know, man... I still can''t believe I split into fucking two,] Karan said with a shiver.


    "What''s it gonna do?" Evin asked with confusion.


    [It''s apletely separate entity from me, so I can''t really tell. Try touching it and creating a connection with it,] Karan answered.


    Evin picked the skinshifter into his hands and the mass of ck metal turned into a slim ck spear that was identical to the one that Evin was using an hour ago.


    He then tried to send his thoughts to the skinshifter, like he would usually talk with Karan. In reply, he received a set of vague but familiar thoughts.


    [Mother]


    [Bright]


    [I''m scared]


    [Safe in mother''s hands]


    [Want dark]


    The thoughts also had the voice of a little girl.

 Chapter 113: Runa and Olken

    Chapter 113: Runa and Olken


    Hearing this new voice Evin realized that it was exactly the same as the stray thoughts that the Dark World Sprites would asionally send to Evin''s head. This newborn skinshifter''s thoughts even seemed a bit moreplexpared to the other small thoughts.


    Evin then checked through his shadow and started counting the World Sprites. Sure enough, there were only 97 of them, one less than the 98 total that went inside Evin''s shadow at the guidance of the Vulpine Mother.


    "Seems like one of the World Sprites had taken over the part that split up from you," Evin concluded.


    ''I suppose the World Sprites think of me as their mother, huh? Wait, Karan literally just gave birth, so he''s also the mother, isn''t he? I don''t like this where this is going'' Evin thought with dread.


    Shaking his head, Evin then started ying around with the newborn skinshifter. He instructed it to turn into different shapes and he also asked if it could see the things around Evin like Karan could.


    It was a bit clumsy and stiff at first, but the newborn skinshifter''s effectiveness was getting better at a phenomenal speed. Since it was born inside Evin (technically), it seemed like it possessed the ability to read Evin''s thoughts. Anything that Evin wanted it to do, it would perform it immediately to the best of its capabilities.


    An hour of trainingter, its synergy with Evin had gotten better than even Karan.


    There was another thing that was very special about the ck metal. When Karan''s shape shifted into something fundamentally different, he would turn into countless little shards and then regather. After transforming, he could stretch a bit to either block attacks or surprise enemies, but the man definitely had a stretching limit. If he reached that limit, he would have to regather.


    But the new skinshifter was naturally very fluid. It didn''t need to turn into countless shards to change its general appearance, its shape-shifting abilities were top notch from birth. It could also take on non-weapon shapes as well, so that meant that it could move about without the support of a host.


    One more thing that Evin and the others noticed was that the World Sprite was beginning to learn how to talk and understand words just like a normal newborn would.


    [What do next, mother?] a little girl''s voice sounded inside Evin''s mind, a hint of enthusiasm and innocence in her tone of voice. Evin tried to make the skinshifter stop calling him Mother, but wasn''t really finding sess.


    ''I suppose I should keep calling it "it" all the time I should give her a name,'' Evin decided and named the newborn metal skinshifter "Runa", in honor of the shape-shifting sword of Indian mythology.


    [We''ll take a break for now, and also, your name will be Runa, okay?] Evin answered back.


    [What''s name, mother?] the voice asked back, confused.


    Evin exined the concept of names to the newborn and then realized that he will most likely exin a lot of things to the newborn.


    ''Wait, aren''t I training a literal baby to be my meat shield?'' This act of teaching made Evin realize something horrible.


    "Karan do you feel pain?" Evin asked in a panicked voice.


    [Not really, though I do feel vibrations through my body when something strikes me, but I got used to it pretty soon]


    "Yeah? Well, alright," Evin answered and asked the three to get inside his shadow again. After he was left alone, he disabled his Shadow zone after making sure that there was no one nearby.


    [Back home Sisters] Runa''s thoughts started echoing through Evin''s head.


    [This ce is heavenly]


    [Damn right] the other two''s thoughts appeared next.


    "What a day And it''s not even evening yet," Evin said with a deep sigh.


    "Fuck it, I''m just going to go to sleep when I get to that mansion," Evin decided.


    After stretching and then yawning loudly, he began flying towards the Tribe Grounds.


    Reaching the Tribe, Evin decided to walk through the front gates.


    The guard outside couldn''t quite recognize Evin since he flew out of the Tribe grounds, so it took Evin almost an hour to finally convince him that he was a student there. He had to prove that he could fly and when asked why he suddenly flew out of the city, Evin just said that he was trying out a spell and it seemed like it was going to explode. Hearing this, the guard asked to demonstrate the spell. Evin was pissed off and tired, so he threw a fireball at the guard''s face, but stopped it right before it hit the man.


    Obviously the problem escted, which lead to Evin being questioned even more and when asked who his instructor was, Evin just said it was Nasst. Hearing the name being tossed around so casually, the guard''s face went cold. Calmly, he allowed the boy inside. But asked him not to fly around in the Tribe Grounds.


    After 20 more minutes of walking, Evin arrived outside Zakhlo''s mansion. Waddling tiredly, he saw with a woman who was sitting on a makeshift bench made out of the earth, silently staring at nk space. There was some luggage next to her seat, tightly packed into one small package. The woman had a slightly brownish hair, with no horns on her head. She also didn''t seem to be a mage.


    Evin wondered who she was, before realizing that Zakhlo came out of his mansion in the morning smelling like sex.


    ''Oh shit,'' Evin thought, as he prepared his state of being.


    ''What the fuck am I supposed to say to her? I''m sorry I killed your lover, it was an ident?! Oh and also, I will be living in your old house alongside some bigshot, who very obviously influenced the decision of my verdict?''


    If Evin waspletely honest, he would much rather not face the woman, or even Zakhlo''s family for that matter. But since he gave his word, and since he also felt bad about the whole ordeal, he decided to stay true to his promises. Even though Zakhlo acted like an idiot, he did not deserve death, that was for sure.


    [Help,] Evin asked inwardly, to which only Runa answered.


    [Mother?] the child''s inquiring voice sounded.


    ''Fucking Cosmic professionalism!'' Evin cursed in his head.


    [Nothing, Runa, sorry for calling you. And also, if you have something you don''t understand, ask Karan and Rith, alright? If they''re not answering, you can ask me] Evin told the child.


    Evin then walked towards the woman and sat next to her.


    "Are you alright?" Evin asked. He felt bad for deceiving the woman, but he just couldn''t force himself to start the conversation by stating that he was the culprit behind her situation.


    The woman looked towards Evin, a weary expression on her face. Her brown eyes filled with confusion and disbelief.


    "Oh, nothing. Go along, child," the woman waved her hands weakly.


    ''Well, I can''t just go and waltz into the mansion'' Evin thought.


    "I''ve heard that instructor Zakhlo died in an ident Are you his wife?" Evin asked unsurely.


    "Do all the children know about this?" the woman asked, suddenly.


    "I don''t believe so, I happened to see the half-core children carrying an adult''s body out of the Beast''s den And I also saw some unknown people entering instructor Zakhlo''s mansion," Evin articted. He tried to speak softly and without condescension, so the woman might be more willing to talk.


    Evin even debated using the World of Emotions, but decided against it.


    ''If the woman doesn''t wish to talk, I''ll just have to tell her the truth and apologize politely, even if it makes me look like an absolute asshole,'' he thought.


    "How are you so calm after you''ve seen one of your instructors die?" the woman asked suddenly.


    "It wasn''t my first time seeing someone die and to tell you the truth, I''ve killed people before," Evin blurted out.


    "But you''re only six? What happened in your life?" the woman gasped.


    "Do you know about the Children of the Empress?" Evin asked.


    "Yes Zakhlo once told me about them. Reincarnated children with memories of their past life," the woman muttered and then looked at Evin with shock.


    "I happen to have had a rather tumultuous past life I''m Evin, by the way," Evin said.


    "Ah, my name is Olken. Why are you telling me this, though?" she asked.


    "I''m not sure I kinda started wondering how the families of the people I''ve killed felt about it all after seeing you," Evin said wistfully. Obviously these were all lies. But although he lied about the killings, he knew exactly how people''s families felt when their close one died at someone''s hands.


    The woman stared at Evin with a nk face and spoke.


    "He wasn''t my husband I was just a lover a passing lover, most likely," the woman answered.


    "How long have you been together for?" Evin asked.


    "About two months now He sweet-talked me into his bed and I''ve stayed with him since then," Olken exined.


    Evin just sat there and listened as the woman narrated her story. It was the least he could do.

 Chapter 114: A long days end

    Chapter 114: A long day''s end


    "Two months isn''t a long time, but long enough to tell that both sides were somewhat serious. You both start to see each other''s ws and good points Well, Zakhlo''s ws were quite obvious: he was obsessively petty, and he was a control-freak. Whenever something out of his expectation happened, he would just start going crazy And whenever I made a joke about him or when Iined about something, he would try to create a scene where I''m forced to be a hypocrite, or where he could say the exact same words that I say," Olken continued on.


    "After one day, when I told him that he was being a bit too dirty in the house, he started to point out at the things that I dirtied and startedining about them to me. Petty stuff like that Guess he had a childish side to him, I guess" Olken said with a small sigh.


    "But I could tell that he truly cared about me. Every time I mention something offhandedly, he would try his best to amodate me better. I once offhandedly mentioned about how hard it is to clean the house with cold water, and the next day, he had created some sort of magical device that was used to heat water There was also the time when he offered to buy me a pet, since I ked about being lonely without him"


    Evin listened silently. He tried his best to not look disinterested, but he was having a hard time with it. Thankfully, the woman was mostly looking downwards, so she couldn''t quite notice the child''s expressions next to her.


    "But what I liked about him the most, was that he never treated me as a non-mage hornless human. Some mages could really act like assholes, you know? Thinking that they were born at the top of the world, always bragging about the blessings of the Empress on their souls Zakhlo looked at me like a proper individual and he never thought that his opinions were inherently better than mine because he was a mage," Olken sighed.


    "But today, the people from the Tribe came and told me that Zakhlo was killed by one of the children due to an ident. They told me that they were giving his living quarters to an instructor who will be recing him and that I should probably leave. I was quite surprised with how fast everything happened. His every possession was dragged out of the house in a uniform matter and was taken away"


    "But the most shocking thing wasn''t that. Another woman, who was presumably a mage, came and announced that she was the deceased''s fianc and started creating a scene. Sheshed out at the people of the Tribe and then at me, for stealing her future husband and whatnot. Then, some elderly man with two horns came and started talking to her, after which the woman calmed down immediately. He then made me this makeshift seat for me and said that it was okay to sit here as long as I want," she said.


    "Since then, I''ve been wondering if Zakhlo ever nned to tell me about his fianc, or was he just going to find an excuse and then kick me out at some point? Or did he really like me, and he was nning to cancel his engagement to the woman? Was I just a passing fun, or was I someone actually special to him?"


    "The more I think, the more I realize that I''ll never find the truth about this matter. I mean, he''s dead, after all. Even if he became one of you Children, and reincarnated in some corner of the World, he wouldn''te back to me and exin his situation, he would simply live life as another soul in whatever corner of the World he is born in," the woman started talking about random things.


    ''When is this going to stop?'' Evin was groaning in his head, but on his face, he had a perfectly sympathetic expression. At this point, he was just mentally exhausted after the events of the day.


    "Well, what will you do?" Evin asked.


    "It''s probably best to think that Zakhlo was lying to me and just move on with my life," Olken said.


    "I suppose you''re right," Evin said and continued with deliberation: "I''m sorry for killing your lover, it truly was an ident"


    Evin got up from the seat and bowed to her.


    "I guessed it was something like that I''ve seen you from the mansion after all. What had actually happened?" Olken asked weakly in response.


    Evin then exined the event in detail. Hearing the full story, Olken could only sigh with weariness.


    "That does sound like him The pettiness and the childishness of it all"


    "Although he acted like that, he did not deserve to die for it. The me lies in me, I''m sorry," Evin said.


    "I don''t really know what to say. Though I do have some question, I''ve heard you''re going to be living in this mansion from now on? This really gave me a weird feeling," Olken asked.


    "The elder man that will be recing Zakhlo needed a ce to stay. He also offered to take me under his wings as his personal disciple. There was nothing personal or deliberate, if that''s what you''re worried about," Evin said and then brought out a rather heavy small purse from his storage dimension.


    "And also, here''s the advance of the death gratuity money for you. I''m sure the officials will decide on a proper amount at some point and if the amount is more than what I''ve given you, please visit me and receive it," Evin said and handed the purse to the woman.


    "What do you mean?" the woman asked as she held the purse with some confusion.


    "Oh, when a worker dies due to an ident or whatnot, the deceased''s family receives a certain amount of money forpensation. Since I was the cause of your lover''s death, I will have to be the one paying it," Evin said as the woman nced at the contents of the purse. She then almost dropped the purse in half as she could see five stacks of 10 gold coins.


    "Is it supposed to be this big?" she asked, while eyeing the surroundings warily.


    "Probably not, so don''t unt it around, alright? I rmend you put it inside an ount for safekeeping. Do you know about the Cosmic banks?" Evin then advertised his business a bit. The safety and fairness of it all. Olken decided to head to the bank immediately and open an ount. Evin asked to apany her out of courtesy, but thankfully for Evin, she rejected.


    He felt like he was bribing the woman''s forgiveness, but no one disliked free money. Besides, the two were essentially strangers, so if Evin could still her heart with a little gold, then that was for the best.


    "Finally done with the day..." Evin sighed out loudly and stood up. He patted the dust off his clothes and walked towards the mansion.


    Opening the doors, Evin could see a rather simplistic mansion with rather monotone colors. The style of furniture inside were on the ssical side, but some workers here and there were remodeling and recing some of the stuff.


    "Took you long enough," Nasst came from upstairs and said with a smirk.


    "Well, stuff happened on the way and I had to take a few detours," answered Evin.


    "I heard you flew out of the Tribe grounds suddenly. What happened?" the old man asked.


    "Oh, some private stuff came up. Before that, some hornedmoner attacked me. He wasn''t that strong, but he knew I could suffocate the air around him and was properly prepared, which was a bit confusing. Perhaps it was a threat of some sorts?" Evin thought out loud.


    "Oh, that was probably just Deminte sending you a warning. Did you kill the assassin?"


    "I couldn''t quite manage since I was trying to capture him. But then he threw something towards the ground suddenly and I got scared and back off. The object was something akin to a sh bomb, and after the light died out, the man was gone," Evin answered.


    "That''s probably for the best. Anyway, don''t worry about that, it''s just something to stress you out a bit. Some harassment tactic I''d guess," Nasst exined.


    "I''m guessing you two don''t get along that well?"


    "Well, like any country, there are political parties and factions. And since you''re technically part of my faction, I should probably exin them to you But you seem like you''ve been through quite a lot of stuff today, so I''ll let you take a rest. Your room should be straight ahead, next to the stairs that go up," Nasst said.


    "Thank you, sir," Evin replied.


    "Just call me Nasst. Goodnight, Evin. Oh, and do''nt worry about oversleeping," The elder''s words sounded like music to Evin ears and he promptly walked towards his room.


    Evin wasn''t in the mood to take in the room''s luxuries and just sprawled on the bed and took off his clothes.


    "Home sweet home" Evin muttered before rolling into the nket and dozing off.

 Chapter 115: Nassts faction

    Chapter 115: Nasst''s faction


    The next morning, Evin woke up slightly groggy, due to the unfamiliar bed that he slept in. After spending a moment, wondering where he was, he finally remembered the previous day''s events. Stretching a bit, he found that his body was slightly sore due to the workout yesterday.


    Well, a little soreness could be easily solved my magic, so Evin thanked the Empress for letting him be born as a mage and mended his body into tip-top shape.


    He then looked around the room, curiously eyeing his new living quarters. First thing he noticed was the size of his bed. King sized and supported by four pirs at each corner, silk curtains draped on each side.


    There was something akin to a round tea table as well, with three seats put around it. The table''s existence in the bedroom felt a bit weird to Evin, but who was he to judge? Next to the tea table was a firece of some sorts, built into the stone walls of the house.


    A bookshelf stood nearby, but it was mostly empty. Evin got up and walked towards the wardrobe and found it empty as well. Then he walked towards a closed door. Opening it, he found the bathroom.


    Compared to the slightly modernized long drop that Evin''s old house had, this one actually had a proper toilet with seats and everything. Evin then looked at the bathtub and the sink, which also seemed to use proper sewer lines and could not help but wonder.


    ''Is this the master bedroom? Did I just kill someone and steal his bedroom?'' he then though with dread, but decided that it was best to not think about it.


    It is what it is.


    He got himself presentable and woke Rith up, who apparently slept inside his shadow(which is veryfortable). Alongside the Cosmic, Runa had woken up as well and started pestering Evin with her questions.


    ''Aren''t you supposed to be a being made of Darkness? Why are you so lively and bright?'' Evinined after a long session of Q & A.


    He then opened the door out of his room, but some funny business immediately caught his attention. The whole mansion''s floor excluding his room''s had disappeared into nothingness. Evin could see the limestone foundation of the mansion cut off perfectly and then the soil underground with some rock here and there, also smoothly cut.


    Evin looked down the hole and judged that it was maybe three or four stories deep. There really wasn''t much toment here aside from questioning where the floor had disappeared.


    [Where''s the floor?] Rith asked with confusion.


    ''See? She knows what''s up?'' Evin thought before shaking his head. He floated over the hole and started searching for Nasst and found the man preparing some breakfast in the kitchen.


    "Uhhh Good morning, Nasst," Evin greeted.


    "Good morning to you as well. Surprised you didn''t fall into the hole outside your room," Nasst said andughed loudly.


    "Do you know what''s happening?" Evin asked.


    "Oh, just a little remodeling. Since we''re going to be spending a lot of time here, training and testing magic and all that, we need a proper ce to do those. Else the building will be gone in a few weeks," Nasst exined.


    "I see. So, we''re remodeling the underground?" Evin asked.


    "Yep, well, not us. Most of the children will be assigned some missions to help out with the construction. They shoulde by in a few hours, holding a bunch of mission papers. Adorable little critters Anyway, eat up and we''ll talk about what we''re gonna do afterwards," Nasst said.


    The two had breakfast, which Rith joined and had a few bites of poultry. Nasst stroke up some conversation with the Cosmic, asking her about how one was supposed to receive the tutge of the Cosmics and such. All in all, it was a pleasant breakfast.


    20 minutester, Nasst lead Evin to a mostly empty room, which only had a desk, a somewhatfy looking wooden armchair and something that looked like a podium. Though there was also a soft armchair next to it.


    Evin guessed that the desk was for himself and the podium was for the instructor, so he walked up and sat on the wooden chair. Nasst walked to the soft one and got himselffortable. Subconsciously, the man started caressing the podium that sat close to him. It was a bit distracting to Evin, but there wasn''t much he could do about it.


    "Well, as I''ve said yesterday, the North is divided into a few factions. I''m part of the Control faction, while Deminte is part of the Traditionalist faction. Then there''s the Neutral faction, which is the faction with thergest amount of members but they''re mostly the quiet and reserved type of people, who don''t really wish to dip their feet in nasty stuff," Nasst began exining and Evin understood the gist of things.


    The traditionalists, as their name suggested, were a faction that adhered to keeping to the old ways and mostly advocated peace and took on a non-invasive approach when interacting with the other countries. They pushed for the idea that the war with the South is not the concern of the North and that they should pull their resources back, since it also enabled a lot of Northerners who harbored ill intentions to defect to the South, causing the Northern image to plummet greatly. But the traditionalists would still obey the instructions of St, or in their case, Kal, if they every decided to act on something.


    The Authorities weren''t allowed to take part in mortal matters personally, but they could still order around their kin to a certain extent. Kal had a tremendous advantage here since he could enjoy the benefits of both sides. He was not considered an Authority, so he didn''t have anything binding him... But also thanks to St''s disappearance, he could participate in the Authorities'' affairs and receive some extra information.


    The Control faction, on the other hand, advocated that they should actively take part in the Empire''s affairs and try to establish an even stronger position in the World. To them, the war with the South was an excellent opportunity that had to be used.


    They also advocated more invasive methods when dealing with other countries, not shying from the uses of spies and sentry devices. They also weren''t afraid of using force to solve their problems, which was the biggest difference between them and the Traditionalists who advocated negotiations andmunication.


    The Neutral Faction, on the other hand, acted more like a spectator. The higher ups in the Paradra usually conformed to this view.


    Evin scoffed when he heard the unenthusiastic propaganda that came out of Nasst''s voice afterwards. World peace, a better life for the citizens, etcetera. From what Evin could hear, Nasst, who was talking about it himself, only seemed to do it because it was necessary.


    Evin disliked politics greatly. When he lived as a spirit, he witnessed one too many corrupt old men doing corrupt-old-man-things. He personally watched as a 50 something old politician would talk about protecting children from abuse and harassment on a podium, then going home to piss on a 13-year-old girl while his naked wife watches from the sidelines with a ss of wine in her hands.


    The sudden memory made Evin frown, as he forced himself to focus on the twin-horned man in front of him. The unenthusiastic way of Nasst''s speech sparked Evin''s respect for the man.


    "But at the end of the day, all those things should be pretty meaningless to you, since you''re still technically a child and also a Westerner originally, right?" Nasstughed loudly at the end of his speech.


    Evin didn''t know if he should nod orugh with the man.


    "But I can''t just teach you freely, due to reasons, so I need to make something clear with you. I''ll give you most of the resources and knowledge you might need, but after I deem that you''ve be useful enough, you will have to work under me for a year," Nasst said.


    "What kind of work will I be doing?"


    "It could be anything, really paperwork, fighting, investigations, espionage, research, and even assassinations and other jobs also might appear. I won''t lie about these to you. We''re both adults, so there''s no point in pretending otherwise," Nasst said with a shrug.


    "What will happen after I''m done?" Evin asked.


    "I won''t keep you long. You''ll get a special sort of Oath that would keep you from speaking about your various jobs and you can get back to your family. Oh, and this will also count towards your three times that the North may call upon you Well, obviously, if you wish to continue working, I won''t keep you away. Though that will depend on your results," Nasst said.


    Hearing everything, it seemed a bit too good for Evin. Obviously, the part about spying and killing was a bit worrying, but as the elder man said, Evin was an adult. He knew that some things were unavoidable. But this thought made him realize his own faults.


    ''I''m such a hypocrite For some reason, other people having sex with teenagers is the worst thing that can happen, but it''s totally okay if I go around assassinating people in the name of politics,'' Evin depressingly sighed.


    ''Honestly, not thinking suits me better,'' Evin decided. He forcefully ignored the matter and started thinking about the offer. Evin realized that it was a perfect opportunity for him to get stronger faster. After he receives this elder man''s instructions and receives the Horn, the only thing he wouldck were real life battles.


    "Now that we''re done with the difficult stuff, let''s get to your studies," Nasst said and stood up from his seat.

 Chapter 116: Enri

    Chapter 116: Enri


    "There''s one thing that we have to do first and foremost, and that''s to solve the problem of the Blood''s will inside you. At this point, it''s impossible for you to get rid of this specialty, as its too deeply rooted in your subconscious. The only way forward for you now is to make it your own. Tell me, what was your original n?" Nasst asked.


    "To ignore it for the time being, since it''s not really hurting me. Also, I think the Blood''s will instinctively realizes that it can''t live on without me," Evin replied.


    "Well I suppose that works too, huh? But it''s a bit too uncertain. Most would feel uncertain when they realize that they''re literally ying around on the hands of a stronger entity, so they are prone to methods that reject and remove those powers"


    Evin thought about those words and thought about all the times his privacy was breached because of some stronger entity. The Vulpine Mother, Veidrakar and even Kena and Hin fell into this category.


    ''Maybe I''m getting a bit too numb to these things,'' Evin thought with worry.


    ''Or maybe it''s karma for all the times I lodged myself into the lives of others when I was a spirit''


    Nasst, taking Evin''s silence as some sort of approval, continued speaking.


    "Well, personally, if taming the powers to be yours isn''t possible, make a reconciliation with the stronger being that resides inside you. But if you manage to take absolute control over it, then it would be best for your future," Nasst said with some pity.


    "What do you mean?"


    "Well, I''m not sure if this applies to you, but Dark Mages are all serious control freaks. They try their best to know the exact details about literally everything they''re involved in"


    Evin wondered if this applied to him. Thinking of his three hundred years where he literally had no control over anything, he couldn''t help but think that this trait didn''t apply to him. Moreover, judging from his own behavior these past few years, Evin couldn''t quite call himself someone controlling and domineering. But if he suddenly turned into a spirit or something, he was sure he would go crazy.


    ''But maybe since I''ve been out of control so much, I would easily get addicted or attached to this feeling of having control over one''s life'' Evin reasoned.


    He didn''t want to lie and say he didn''t like the feeling. After all, o one liked to deal with unknown factors popping out.


    "So you''re worried that the Blood''s will inside me is a control freak, like most Dark Mages?"


    "Judging from how it had acted so far, I''m very sure it''s a special case. That''s whymunication is of utmost importance. Since both of you can''t get rid of each other, it''s best to talk it out and find a middle ground," Nasst said with a smile.


    "So, I should try negotiating with her?" Evin asked.


    "Yes. Try tomunicate with them and ask them what they wish from you Can you enter your own shadow? If so, it''s better to do it in their own turf," Nasst instructed and said: "While you do that, I''ll be preparing the Contract for your education andter employment"


    "Which World?" Evin asked.


    "The World of Space, since it''s by far the easiest to purchase," Nasst shrugged.


    Evin nodded and focused inwardly, letting the stray thoughts of the World Sprites invade his mind. He learned how to kind of block the connection when he was focusing on other things. He then gathered some energy and fell into his shadow.


    Evin appeared in his own special ce, one that felt constricted yet endless at the same time. He looked around and saw the odd World Sprites moving about here and there, ying around with their kin. Noticing Evin, they began to flock towards him. A stack of weapons, lodestones and other misceneous stuff sat at one spot, Evin''s frequently used things.


    Evin felt that the inside of his shadow was bing more and morefortable as the days passed. When he first entered, it was just some sort of empty, t space, but now, there was a certain familiarity to it all. The ground inside Evin''s shadow was rather malleable, so there were some spots which were slightly indented or bumped up to suit the needs of whoever stayed inside.


    "Maybe I should put some furniture or something here," Evin thought idly.


    As for the guests inside, they were exining one thing or another to Runa. Noticing Evin, Runa called out to her parent figure telepathically.


    [What''s that man saying, mother?] the girl asked, part of her metal figure pointing at the sky inside Evin''s shadow. Evin looked up and saw a slightly distorted vision of Nasst walking to his armchair and sitting down. If Evin tried hard enough, he would be able to look around at different things and listen to the sounds that came from the outside World.


    Runa had already be able tomunicate clearly with words and was getting better by the minute. Evin was truly astonished by the child''s growth, but his eyes twitched when he was addressed as mother again.


    "Runa, do you remember your fox mother?" Evin decided to put an end to this sudden motherhood.


    [Yeah! Super mother!] Runa replied happily.


    "Since you already have super mother, I shouldn''t be your mother, right? How about you call me big brother at least?" Evin asked.


    [Big brother? But sister Rith told me that you''re our mother and that it was okay to have a lot of mothers]


    Evin red at the Cosmic, who was silently inspecting her paws, and hurriedly corrected the skinshifter.


    "Nonono, your sister Rith is a bit of a liar, don''t trust all the things she says. You can ask me if you feel that she is saying something weird. And also, you can just call me big brother. In fact, I want you to call me big brother"


    [Big brother]


    "Yes! Say it again!"


    [Big brother!]


    "I''m so proud of you! When I''m done with the lessons, I''ll talk with you lots, okay?" Evin said with a warm tone.


    [But what was the man talking about?]


    "He was asking about your eldest sister," Evin sighed and looked at the maw that was lying down near the other World Sprites, silently gazing at Evin and the others.


    [Big sis? Why?] the girl asked.


    "Hmm, well, you know your sis is stronger than me, right?" Evin started exining. It was pointless to hide it anyway, since the World Sprites and the Blood''s will could all hear the conversation too.


    [Yeah?]


    "He''s afraid that your big sis might get angry and take over my body and told me to talk it out with your big sis," Evin replied and walked over to the Blood''s will, leaving the pondering skinshifter behind.


    "Hello," Evin said.


    [Mother]


    [No worry] A female voice appeared in Evin''s head.


    ''Is she telling me to not worry about any sort of mutiny and go one with my life? Wait, why does she also call me mother?'' Evin thought.


    "Do you have anything you want from me? Even if you''re not going to try and take over my body, it doesn''t mean I shouldn''t try to amodate you better," Evin asked.


    The maw floated up and came right in front of Evin''s chest. Evin held out his hands and the mawnded on top of it.


    [Name] Another thought appeared.


    "You want a name?" Evin asked in wonder. Did big sis feel jealous because Runa got a name? If it was only that, then Evin didn''t mind giving the maw a name.


    ''What''s a good name Enri from Fenrir? Wait, that''s a wolf. Hmm, for some reason, I can''t quite think of notable fox creatures from Earth''s mythology. Is there some kind of maw creature in any of the myths? Ah, fuck it, Enri it is,'' Evin decided.


    "How about Enri?" he asked sheepishly.


    The maw stood silently for a bit, making Evin a bit nervous.


    [Gratuity] the maw said softly.


    "You probably mean to say gratitude," Evin corrected.


    [?] A questioning tone filled Evin''s mind.


    ''Howe my head has a special sound for puzzlement?'' Evin wondered briefly and prepared to exin the difference between the two words. But he was unable to do so, as the maw was experiencing sudden changes.


    From above the upper jaw of the newly named Enri, something akin to a snout started materializing. A slightly nauseating sound of some flesh''s movement entered Evin''s ears, who was fearfully looking at what was happening on his hands. In a matter of seconds, the simple jaw that was the representation of the Blood''s will, had now turned into a fully developed fox head. It still didn''t have a body, though, as the parts below the neck were just a floating mass of some smoke like gas.


    "Hmm?" Rith cocked her head as she saw the beautiful ck fox''s head on Evin''s hands. The boy was equally confused, as he looked at the fox head on his head, as its soft fur tickled his hands. Its ck marble eyes meeting his own.


    "Enri?" he voiced out.


    [Clearer identity because name] Enri replied in a much more concise way.


    "Is that so? So, if your identity bes clearer and clearer, you''ll eventually look like a fox?" Evin asked.


    [Time Energy]


    Evin guessed that after some time, he will have a foxpanion at his side if he properly fed it some energy. But what about the World sprites? Will they also be clearer if Evin gave them names?


    "Rith, what if I gave the World Sprites names?" he asked.


    "Don''t know," Rith answered.


    Evin began to think deeply about this matter. He had a feeling that it will lead to something important.

 Chapter 117: Somaturgy

    Chapter 117: Somaturgy


    Since the Blood''s will became clearer and more sophisticated because of a name, it meant that names gave a certain advantage. Well, the uses of names was very obvious, anyway. Just like how society can''t function without words to define objects, names were used to define people.


    Evin looked at the fox''s head again, deep in thought. He thought more about one topic that has been on his mind since ages.


    ''What is my personal Darkness?''


    He himself said that it was something adaptive, but was it really? If Evin could describe his own life, he would perhaps call it enduring, or self-finding. Or if he was a bit more negative, he would call it pointless or unfulfilled, to say the least.


    Then what about darkness? Evin didn''t dislike darkness. Even if he was afraid of it, he saw hope in it. Evin used to think that if even he, who was a spirit, was afraid of the darkness, then there must be something even more or equally scary in it. Evin liked to delude himself and pretend there was a spirit in the Dark and then strike a one-sided conversation with it.


    ''I suppose it represents hope for me in this case The Darkness of Hope'' Evin thought but it seemed a bit off to him when he worded it out.


    ''Do I want friends from the dark?'' Evin thought and although a bit weird, this new train of thought seemed a bit more likely.


    "The Darkness of Unknown and Mysterious Allies?" Evin muttered out.


    Confused, he started gathered up the stray thoughts in his mind and concluded that he should find friends that dwelled in darkness. Oh, and also, those friends have to be a bit terrifying, or at least mysterious.


    ''What the fuck?'' Evin thought, but somehow, this bizarre conclusion seemed awfully fitting. He then nced at the fox''s head on his hand and the surrounding World Sprites. To be fair, they were quite scary in most people''s eyes. Especially if they were stuck inside the Darkness. But even if Evin named all the World Sprites, will they all turn into foxes?


    ''Or maybe I have to create beings out of darkness? Am I going to get a pack of foxes in my shadow soon?''


    ''Wait, it doesn''t have to be a fox, judging from what happened with Runa. It could be anything, as long as it was living. Wait, could it be non-living as well? ''


    Evin briefly thought about getting Karan to give birth 98 times, but that seemed a bit imusible for the time being.


    Perhaps he could capture mana-beasts and have the World Sprites take over them?


    Many different thoughts appeared inside Evin''s mind.


    In the end, he decided to consult others. What was the point ofing to the Ekhri Tribe if he was going to mull over every little subject by himself?


    He exined to Rith about his thoughts and received a mockingugh, but she did tell him afterwards that it was possible to have World Sprites take over mana beasts, though she wasn''t that knowledgeable on this matter.


    "Enri, by the way, what do you think the World Sprites here would like to do?" Evin asked.


    The fox head resting on his hands looked up with a gaze that seemed to show amusement and then responded.


    [ Maybe like me] Enri''s thought appeared.


    [Strong]


    [Dark]


    [Mother]


    [y]


    [Safe]


    []


    Various thoughts entered Evin''s head, as the World Sprites started fussing about. The World Sprites'' thoughts coincided with his thoughts of letting them receive bodies to y around in the real World with a bit more freedom. Or at least that''s what Evin guessed.


    Even if Evin''s guess was wrong he would chalk it up to unclearmunication and go on with his ns. He thanked Enri and got out of his shadow.


    "Well? What happened?" Nasst asked, his hands writing on a sheet of paper.


    Evin exined what happened with the Blood''s will and what he thought about his own specialty. He hid the part about Karan and Runa, since he wasn''t yetfortable about revealing their existence.


    Hearing Evin''s thoughts Nasst pondered deeply.


    "Hmm, what forms do the World Sprites inside you take?"


    "Little children," Evin replied curtly.


    "Hmm? Why does the Blood''s will inside you take on the form of a maw?"


    "The Beast Lord that gave it to me was a Vulpine," Evin said.


    "Oh, that''s quite interesting" Nasst trailed off again.


    Evin patiently waited for the man to finish his ruminating.


    "I think I have a solution for you. What do you know about Somaturgy?" Nasst asked.


    "Golems, right?" Evin thought and realized that it fit his needs quite well.


    "Yes It is slightly taboo, though, so I will have to appeal to the higher ups so you can study it," Nasst said.


    "Taboo?"


    "Most of the ''golems'' that circte the market currently are just glorified magical tools. It can''t perform actions autonomously, and it is only used to perform one or two specified tasks. But real golems, ones that I''m trying to get you to study, are a bit different. They can work autonomously and they''re also extremely intelligent. Obviously, as you can guess, most of that intelligencees from the spirit or spell that guides it," Nasst exined.


    "So these real golems are piloted by World Sprites or something simr?" Evin asked.


    "See, there''s the problem. As you know, World Sprites can''t survive alone in this World. Even if the perfect environment is created for them, if there are no other World Sprites around them, they will simply turn into energy and dissipate. And besides, there aren''t that many mages who actually possess World Sprites in their bodies. Not to mention ones with physical bodies like the Dark World Sprites"


    "What do you mean?" Evin asked.


    "Your World Sprites reside in your shadows. Where do you think, let''s say, a Life World Sprite would stay?" Nasst asked.


    "The blood? Or the flesh" Evin asked in wonder.


    "Yes, Life World Sprites directly enter someone''s flesh and organs, instantly making their host''s bodies stronger and their lives longer. They no longer have the ability to turn into something material anymore. Water World Sprites would enter someone''s bloodstream, also strengthening your body, which is made mostly out of liquids. Anyway, you get the point. Aside from the Dark World, the World of Thoughts and the World of Space; every other World''s Sprite would enter your body and strengthen it in some way permanently. Though obviously, there are exceptions to this"


    Evin heard Nasst''s words and wondered where Fire World Sprites would reside in someone''s body.


    "Anyway, we''re getting off topic. As I''ve exined, World Sprites aren''t that popr for piloting golems. So people started doing experimentations on how to use human or animal brains, or even spirits to pilot golems, giving the field of Somaturgy a terrible name," Nasst said.


    "If that is so, why isn''t it banned yet?" Evin asked.


    "Well,ter on, they started using World of Thought spells specifically designed to pilot golems. Unfortunately, these spells are disgustinglyplex and requires a ton of materials and runes and whatnot to simply keep the spell active, let alone controlling a golem," Nasst exined.


    "So the field is a bit stuck, I suppose," Evin muttered and then remember about the panther-like magical device that Aran had in his house. How did that work?


    "Definitely. But perhaps I can pull some strings and find you the proper specialists," Nasst said with a smile.


    "Those enthusiastic about Somaturgy would definitely be happy to experiment with World Sprites I think this will be a great opportunity," Evin agreed.


    "Well, expect some news in the near future. Now, you will need to exin to your World Sprites about this procedure in detail. Dark Sprites are usually quite enigmatic, so I can''t be sure if they''ll agreepletely," Nasst reminded.


    Evin promised to exin it in detail to the Shadow-dwellers.


    "Well, now that we''re done with the most impending problem, let''s talk about other magic," Nasst said and brought out a rather thick book.


    ncing at the book''s cover, Evin realized that it was a book about illusions. Instantly, his eyes lit up. Evin really liked ying around with illusions and the whole topic just fit his yful personality greatly. The various methods and intricacies that he could create or invent were truly numerous.


    He joyfully grabbed the book and started reading but gradually his expression lost its interest and his eyes turned dull. The whole book was basically a question and answer sheet. Where the question described an illusory method and the answer described how to recognize or deal with it.


    Obviously, the first method described was the one everyone used. To create an object made of Thought energy.


    Solution: To fill one''s eyes with Thought energy and discern which object was made out of Thought energy.


    Counter-Solution: Fill the entire area with a thinyer of Thought energy, effectively blinding the person who used the previous method.


    On and on, the book described various illusory tricks. After Evin read a few paragraphs, he pleadingly looked at Nasst.

 Chapter 118: Core Shard Assimilation

    Chapter 118: Core Shard Assimtion


    "This book will be the first task that you receive from me. It''s called the [Compendium of Illusions and Thought Tricks of the year 1477, Northern version]. If you want to be a useful mage, detecting illusions and taking care of them bes a task of utmost importance. It''s a tedious task, for sure, but you don''t know how many times your life will be saved thanks to this book," Nasst said.


    "I see I will make sure to memorize the contents, then," Evin replied. The year and the country affiliation meant that they frequently updated this book and that every country had a different one.


    "Well, take as much time as you want. Hole up in the World of Thought and memorize the contents. But each day, don''t spend more than three hours inside the World. if you spend more than 6 hours in the World daily, in less than a year, you''ll start acting retarded outside it. After your session in the World of Thoughts, exit the World and try to fortify your newly gained memories. I won''t give you deadlines or anything, but when you feel that you''re ready, a specialist will test you"


    "Also, I''ve heard you bought a Core Shard and a corresponding technique to go along with it. Assimte that for the time being and after you''re done, I will find you a different one. That''s all for the time being. Oh, one thing you should remember is that if I give you the information through a book, it means that you can do whatever you want with it. But if I exin the techniques in person, then you shouldn''t wantonly share them with others," Nasst finished and walked out of the room.


    Evin sat on his desk and dazedly read through the book filled with illusions. He spent a little under two hours inside the World of Thoughts, reading through the contents of the book. Truly, the imagination of mages was boundless and varied. Evin could only try his best to diligently memorize the contents.


    The World of Thoughts helped a lot and Evin could memorize most things after only reading it a few times, but judging from the words of Aran and Nasst, Evin could tell that too much of something good could easily be poison. He was d that he didn''t create the habit of spending time in the World of Thoughts beforehand.


    After finishing his session in the World of Thoughts, he started doing as Nasst instructed and began to fortify the knowledge in his normal mind, one without the boost to his brainpower. Evin realized that the things he could easily recall in that wondrous World were all but obscure to him now.


    Since time flowed slower in the World of Thoughts, in reality, Evin only spent a minute or so memorizing the contents of the book. But he still had to spend four hours afterwards to solidify his knowledge.


    Finished with his new daily duty, Evin decided to focus on the Core Shard and its technique. He got out of the improvised ssroom and entered the main corridor. Surprisingly, he was met with two dozen or so children, all wearing cask-like helmets and working on one thing or another. Most of them were busy mixing limestone and sand with their magic.


    Some were drawing some engravings on the finished pieces of the building blocks. Evin could see Nasst in their midst, teaching the children what they need and examining the finished building blocks.


    ''Cute little things, indeed'' Evin thought.


    Some of them nced at Evin, who came out of the instructor''s room. Some of them recognized him, but a stern gaze from Nasst didn''t allow them to be unruly. Evin floated over the hole in the ground and entered his room and opened the handbook.


    ncing through the handbook that he bought, Evin''s face gradually turned into a frown. The handbook also came with a syringe and 30 special concoctions. Evin was supposed to suck up the inside of the vial and then mix it with the concoction; then inject the contents into his own bloodstream and steadily direct it towards his heart. When it reached his heart, he should have the Core Shard wrap around his heart uniformly and let it dissolve into his mana-core.


    The process required him to be particrly careful when the Shard was moving through his veins, since there was a huge chance of his veins getting clotted in the process.


    The techniques inside the handbook described the spells necessary to pull this feat off without identally killing himself. They were mostly spells thatbined the Dark World and the World of Life. It was rmended that the practitioner should spend no more than four hours when performing this technique and should do so in a dark environment to receive most benefits.


    Moreover, after every session, Evin needed to rest his heart and wait 3 days. So one day of assimtion and 3 days of rest. A total of 4 days.


    ''I really hate this world'' Evin thought, thinking of the invasiveness of all the methods.


    "Hey, how do you assimte a World of Space Shard?" he asked Rith.


    [Hmm, our World''s Shards are also called Star Dust. A bit of a pretentious name and a very scientifically wrong one at that, but there really is no other way of describing it. I don''t know how humans absorb Star Dust, but since Cosmics have an astral body, they just have to consume them in its raw form and the process of assimtion begins. It''s nothing too difficult, we just have to nudge it in the direction of the heart and the energy will be automatically absorbed into our mana-cores. It''s a different story if you''re about to assimte aplete World Core, but I''ve never really seen one before, so I can''t really say] Rith exined.


    Evin realized that it was quite simr to Evin''s current method. He could only sigh and get to work. But just as he was about to start, Rith reminded him.


    [You should perform the technique inside your shadow. The environment is suitable and the Core Shard won''t disappear far if you somehow lose it]


    ''So it can run away, huh?'' Evin thought and heeded Rith''s advice.


    Inside his shadow, Evin stuck the syringe into the vial and slowly pulled the plunger when the needle''s tip touched the Shard piece. Evin half-expected the web-like Shard to writhe around, but there was no reaction from the vial and he carefully extracted a miniscule part of the Shard.


    Evin was afraid that the thin needle wouldn''t be big enough for the Shard to go through, but it was smoothly absorbed into the syringe''s barrel without any resistance, like it knew what was going to happen to it. Evin then added some of the special concoction into the syringe as well and shook it a bit.


    The boy pulled out his wrist and searched for a big enough vein. Since he could practically look at his body from the inside out, the task wasn''t hard. But the biggest vein he could find was still extremely thin, which made Evin realize why the needle needs to be so thin. After struggling a bit, he found a suitable vein and inserted the syringe.


    The amount he had extracted was truly microscopic, as the handbook was very adamant on small amounts.


    Evin gradually helped the thinned-out Core Shard slither through his veins and reach his heart. As if knowing what to do instinctively, the ck substance thinly spread around his heart and started prating deep into it.


    After four hours, the Core Shardpletely merged into his tiny heart. The size of Evin''s mana-core noticeably increased this time. Well, even though one said noticeably, it was still a miniscule amount. His mana-core''s ratio was 40.2 %, which could bepared to Evin being 1% done with being a half-core. After this small session, the percentage increased to 1.1%.


    ''It truly takes a long time... Judging by the amount that is left in the vial, I''ll be 4% done after absorbing the entirety of it,'' Evin calcted.


    It meant that Evin would need to repeat this process 33 times to finally be a lesser-imposer.


    After some more calctions, Evin realized that it will take him 120 days to finish absorbing this Core Shard, if nothing out of the ordinary happened. Exactly three months in Alvox''s calendar. After that, he will get another method and start working with that. If every technique had the same effects, Evin would be a lesser-imposer in ten years


    But that was a very optimistic look on things. After every session, the effects of the Core Shards would diminish greatly. The technique that Evin was using this time would yield a lesser amount the next time Evin attempted it.


    ''Well, one thing at a time'' Evin muttered. There were thousands of ways to increase one''s mana-core. There would be slow and steady methods like this one and more explosive ones like the Velvet Contract.


    Evin exited his shadow and looked at the clock. Lunchtime.


    He informed Nasst that he was leaving and thetter told him that Evin could freely take on missions and whatnot during his free time. He then asked for Evin''s badge and inserted 1000 points for yesterday''s mission. Although, an unfortunate ident happened, Evin''s group still managed to y the ox.


    "In the evening, spend your time practicing the illusions you learned in the morning. You''re also free to practice your other spells. After you''re done with that book, I''ll teach you other stuff," Nasst reminded.


    Evin thanked the elder man surrounded by children, walked out the mansion and headed towards somewhere to eat.

 Chapter 119: More bindings

    Chapter 119: More bindings


    In the cafeteria, Evin sat down after ordering the day''s free food. ncing around, he saw a mixture of adoring and fearful gazes. Most of the frightful looks came from the older children while most of the adoration came from the younger children.


    ''Well, soon it will all turn to fear,'' Evin guessed self-depreciatingly.


    The mental age of 6-year-old mage children were almost 9 or 10 years due to their high intelligence. Naturally, they would gossip incessantly like teenagers.


    There were many children who saw Evin''s group leave the Beast''s den, and somehow, rumors of what happened spread everywhere. Evin wouldn''t care much, but he guessed that he should at least look like he was mournful.


    It wasn''t hard since he sat alone and ate nd stuff with a serious expression. But in reality, he was just entertaining Runa inside his body, as per his promise. The skinshifter also stopped calling him mother and was getting used to calling him big brother.


    ''Life is good'' Evin absentmindedly though as he ate his food. As he was daydreaming, Nasst''svoice called out to him from somewhere. Evin looked up and saw the man leading a bunch of children like a duck mama with her chicks.


    "What are you doing here, Nasst?" Evin asked with interest. Suddenly, everyone around Evin looked at him with shock and scorn for speaking to an instructor so casually.


    "What? I can''t eat here? The kids got a bit hungry and I decided to apany them here," Nasstughed.


    A waitress hurriedly walked towards him from the kitchen and asked for what he wanted. Usually, the kids here would queue up to receive their food. If someone wanted something other than the day''s special, they had to pay a bit extra. Nasst ordered some stew with bread and sat down next to Evin. the other kids sat nearby as well. A kid that looked about 5 timidly sat next to Evin, before realized he had to queue up for food and hurriedly standing up and walking away.


    "Also, I forgot to show you this," Nasst said and brought out a wrinkled piece of paper.


    Evin read through the abysmal handwriting with some difficulty, but got the gist of it.


    [The head of the **** department of the Northern Tribe Union, Nasst, will teach Eviendra of Smallwall town up to 2nd ss Magic knowledge, thanks to his Rights of Instructing.


    After Eviendra is deemed to be ready by Nasst''s opinions, he will work for the **** department of the Northern Tribe Union for one year]


    Reading through the piece of paper, Evin found some interesting information.


    ''One needs to receive the Rights to Instruct and also there are tiers to Magic knowledges...''


    "What''s with this nk space?" Evin asked.


    "That''s the full name of my department, but I can''t quite write it down easily. But you can be assured that it exists, and if you''re still dubious, you can ask Zorrik about it," Nasst exined.


    "Oh, I''ll do thatter in the day, then," Evin acknowledged.


    Nasst didn''t really think the boy would acknowledge that he will do a background check on him in front of his face. He smiled amusedly and waited.


    Evin asked for a pen and started writing: "Here"


    Nasst nced at the paper and read out under his breath.


    " [Nasst will not plot against Evin or his family''s safety for 20 years after this Contract is made] "


    "Please word that a bit better and add it. I wanted to put in both sides, but you''re kinda too strong and influential, so I didn''t bother. If you want to add that in, be my guest," Evin said as he chewed on some meat.


    "Hah, you''re like those old men who won''t leave anything to chance. I like it! Come to me at dinner time, I should be done with the Contract by then," Nasstughed.


    ''Well, I don''t wanna get killed for learning something I shouldn''t learn during one of your assassination and spying missions...'' Evin grumbled in his head. The man''s department was obviously something too high-end for the current Evin to y with. If he wasn''t careful, he wouldn''t even know how he died.


    The two talked a bit during lunch and finally, Evin was out of the cafeteria and Karan''s voice came into his head.


    [Hey, uhh, Evin?] the usually rude skinshifter was acting awfully polite and reserved.


    [Yeah?] Evin asked, munching on some minced meat. The skinshifter seemed to hesitate slightly, before resolutely speaking.


    [I think I should stay by Arza''s side for the time being,] Karan said.


    Hearing the man, Evin paused slightly and felt a bit disgruntled. He didn''t want to lose this metal skinshifter but thinking about the subject a bit, he realized that it was quite reasonable. Evin didn''t want to objectify Karan, but he didn''t really have a use for him, since he had Runa now. It was better to share him with Arza, since the boy was suddenly left alone in apletely new environment.


    Thinking about the pitiful manner that Arza acted when he was left alone yesterday, Evin felt bad about the whole matter.


    [Sure how much sorbothium do you want to take with you?] Evin asked.


    [No that''s fine Me and Arza will think of a way to find money. Honestly, you''re too much of a wastrel. And you spoil the kid too much, it would be good if he were to earn something for himself,] Karan refused stubbornly.


    Evin was secretly d that the skinshifter refused, since refined sorbothium was difficult to find. But thinking about it, he was very close to the person who owned a literal sorbothium mining town, so he probably didn''t need to worry about it too much.


    After finishing their meal, Evin walked towards Arza''s room. Evin knocked on the door and waited briefly. Footsteps came from the other side, but it didn''t sound like Arza''s. It was the sounds of high heels.


    Evin briefly wondered who it was, and looked at the door expectantly. The door opened and an extremely beautiful Northerner woman with sses opened the door. The woman wore a white coat and was holding some book in her hands. On her head, a leveled Pink Horn grew grandly.


    ''It seems the Arza really wasn''t lonely here,'' Evin snickered in his mind, before looking behind the woman.


    Arza was sitting on a chair with something akin to an IV infusion hanging from above. The liquid inside the pack seemed to be the distilled version of the Core Shard.


    ''Oh,'' Evin thought and greeted the woman.


    "Hello," he said with a smile.


    "And who might you be?" the woman asked.


    "I''m Arza''s friend, just wanted to see how he was doing," Evin said and greeted Arza.


    The red-haired boy was bing increasingly silent during these days, but Evin wasn''t worried. Everyone went through a silent phase. And besides, Arza would have Karan at his side for the time being.


    "Umm, when is the infusion going to end?" Evin asked.


    "It will take another hour or so," the woman answered.


    "Could you leave for a few minutes, I have something secret I need to discuss with him"


    The woman nced at Evin indifferently and refused.


    "I have to stay near him, so that nothing bad will happen during the Core Shard''s infusion. It''s Tribe procedures, so I can''t defy it even if I wanted to," the woman replied curtly.


    Evin thought about it and gave up.


    "I''ll just wait here, then. Please don''t mind me," Evin said.


    The woman nced at Arza and saw that he didn''t mind and could only give up. She sat down on one of the seats and resumed reading her book.


    "Did you finish absorbing your Core Shard?" Arza asked.


    "Nope, I''ll probably need to spend three months directing the thing towards my heart. How about you?"


    "I''m not sure. This was only one tenth of the total amount and I need to wait for instructor Otora to make sure I''m ready to receive the next batch of infusions," Arza replied.


    Evin thought about Otora''s name in his head and realized that it was the instructor that gave out Alchemy missions.


    "How''s life without me?" Evin asked with a grin.


    "It''s a bit boring, but I''ve been reading through the book that instructor Losha gave us. There really wasn''t anything different I also checked the Mission Pir again, but there weren''t any interesting missions, so I decided to try out the Core Shard and the handbook told me to contact instructor Otora," Arza described the previous day in a childish manner and asked Evin: "How was your day at the mansion with instructor Nasst?"


    Hearing the boy''s words, Otora''s indifferent faze crumbled down and she looked at Evin with some fear and curiousity. She hurriedly erased her initial judgement of Evin being an arrogant child who was trying too hard to talk like an adult.


    ''This one really was an adult And he killed Zakhlo,'' Otora thought in her head with dread.


    Evin noticed the instructor''s eyes, and smugly began narrating his day.

 Chapter 120: The advance force

    Chapter 120: The advance force


    Evin noticed the instructor''s eyes, and smugly began narrating his day


    "Yesterday was hell. After I was separated from you, I went to visit grandfather and inform him of what had happened, but then on the way back, I was attacked by some non-mage hornbearer. He wasn''t anything too special, but it was super nerve wracking. Nasst told me that it''s the winterdy''s warning or something. Also, one more very interesting thing happened yesterday, which is the reason I came to you today But I can''t tell you about it with instructor Otora here," Evin said haughtily, before wondering why he was trying so hard to impress this woman. He calmed himself down and started talking normally.


    "After that, I went to the mansion and went to sleep. In the morning, master Nasst and I discussed some stuff about my shadows and we decided on a certain thing, but I''m not sure if it will be effective or not. After that, Nasst gave me this book," Evin said and pulled out the book of illusions.


    "These are all various illusions and methods to discern and counter them. It also has a year and a country affiliation, so I''m guessing every year someone in the World creates an illusory method that isn''t in this book. Master Nasst told me to memorize it all and get tested. Apparently it''s my first task," Evin exined.


    Arza held out his hand in hopes to see the contents and Evin walked up to show some of the tricks he learned.


    "Please don''t use the other Worlds," reminded Otora, when Arza tried to infuse his eyes with Thought energy.


    Arzaplied and just listened as Evin described some of the illusions and exined the methods to detect and counter them. Arza was naturally smart, so he absorbed the info like a sponge.


    Like this, an hour passed and Otora removed the infusion device from Arza''s body. She gave Arza amunication device and told him to contact her if something happened. The two children saw her off soon after.


    "Wow, what a hotdy... Beautiful, smart, and probably rich! Are you going to marry her?" Evin teased. He noticed a hint of red appearing on Arza''s face as the boy was reminded of his childish days.


    ''Speaking of those childish days, it was only a few months ago, huh...'' Evin thought as he looked at Arza''s slightly unfocused gaze.


    Evin didn''t know what the boy in front of him was thinking, but he could see that he was confused. Thinking about it, leaving the skinshifter to look after the boy was probably a good idea.


    "Anyway, I came here to leave Karan with you," Evin said.


    Arza was slightly surprised.


    "Remember that interesting thing I was talking about? Karan actually gave birth. For two whole hours his moans and groans resounded in my head, until he finally stopped and gave this World another of his kind by splitting himself in two," Evin described.


    [Stop!] Karan shouted in his head.


    "Well, the man himself seems eager to exin the details to you," Evinughed loudly and brought the silver skinshifter out of his shadows and gave it to Arza. The thin spear-sword thing which Evin preferred transformed into a normal short sword in the other''s hands after briefly turning into a mass of metal shards.


    "Can I see your new skinshifter armor?" Arza asked.


    Runa''s cheerful voice chirped approvingly inside Evin''s head and in the next moment, a mass of ck metal slithered up from Evin''s shadow and turned into a slim spear in Evin''s hands.


    "Her name''s Runa, it''s one of the World Sprites that were inside my shadow," Evin exined and then thought of something: "Speaking of World Sprites, there''s a spot near our city that houses a World of Life Beast Lord where I want to take you. I forgot about it before, but something reminded me of it recently. Do bother me about it once in a while, or else I''ll forget about it again"


    ''I''m bing old...'' Evin thought with some amusement.


    Arza understood Evin''s meaning and solemnly nodded.


    "Well, that''s it from me. Hope you enjoy your school days. Make lots of friends, okay? And don''t beat them up because they think differently than you," Evin jokingly said and left the blushing Arza in his room.


    An hourter, Evin was walking through the non-mage area, heading towards the coffee stall. The ce was empty as always, and Rhea was ncing at the passing people with a bored gaze.


    "Hey, Rhea," Evin called out as he approached.


    Rhea turned her head, hearing her own name and found the familiar young mage approaching her stall. She didn''t know what to think.


    "Hello, young master Evin," Rhea replied calmly.


    "Please pour me a cup of coffee," Evin said and sat down on one of the empty seats. ncing around, he could see a variety of men smiling at him knowingly. One of them even threw a thumbs-up at the little boy.


    ''Please, I just wanna drink some coffee~'' Evin thought with resignation. Unkowingly, he nced at Rhea''s ass again.


    ''Fuck! I''m being peer pressured!'' Evin cursed in his head.


    Calming himself down, he started thinking about other things.


    He had juste from meeting Zorrik. He asked about Nasst''s organization and found that thetter was a considerable bigshot and a super-imposer at that. The only reason he was working as an instructor here was because of Evin himself, so Zorrik joked that Evin probably shouldn''t try to identally kill the man, if he ever annoyed Evin.


    The boy took the words to heart and his excitement increased.


    ''Maybe I should reconsider going to the Western Academy after I be old enough, because of Nasst''s tutge,'' Evin wondered.


    ''The few weeks after this, it''ll be mostly peaceful. It''ll probably take a month for me to memorize the whole book and aside from doing some odd missions, I won''t really have anything to do'' Evin pondered.


    ''I''d love to learn more, but Nasst seems unwilling to teach me more things for the time being. Maybe I should polish my new spells to its limits. I should be able to increase the size of my Shadow Zone, plus my flying spell and the suffocating spell. I should also try out some new spells to try out with my increased mana But I shouldn''t try that for the time being, since I don''t want to be too heterogenous in my specializations''


    ''What Ick now is spells with medium power. My air bullets are too weak, while my Dark specialty is too strong, or unreliable. The suffocating method is great, since it has the shock factor and a hidden and mysterious factor. I''d like another spell like that. Perhaps the offensive Dark spell will be something like that but I should still try to create something my own''


    Evin who was feeling like he had nothing to do, gradually felt like his schedule was packed. The freedom that the Worlds gave to mages were great, but it could also feel a bit overwhelming.


    Soon after, Rhea came with his cup of coffee. Evin sipped on the bitter drink, absentmindedly feeling the caffeine slowly stimte his mind. But he couldn''t quite feel the same addictiveness he felt when he started drinking coffee as Evan Lorelei. Perhaps it had something to do with his new body. Evin felt that it was a good thing, but still decided to be alert when indulging himself in his favorite drink.


    ''Once a day at most,'' he thought with resolution.


    "Peace is truly best" Evin murmured, noticing that his mind was getting filled with random thought more often.


    In one of the underground oases in the Eastern Deserts, an odd group of 10 individuals had gathered.


    There were three Ivari, two Layeq, two humans, one griffin, one undine and one Cosmic in the group. Every one of them exuded an aura of a strong mage, with their unique mana leaking from their bodies like they were beasts. It was the group of individuals that were sent to check up on the Organization that attacked Evin and the rest.


    Only two days after their meeting at Kena''s ce, the Authorities managed to gather a group of peak super-imposers to send to the spot that Kena found out about. Efficiency and productivity was unparalleled in an empire ruled by collective despotism based on personal strength. Especially when everyone was focused on that one thing.


    Walking thought the underground cave, the group could see many objects and equipment that could only be seen in the most high end of researchboratories. Strange machinations made of metal, with countless wires and lights, scattered throughout the damp corridors of the underground. Pity they were all destroyed and burnt beyond usage.


    A faint smell of burnt metal and chemicals filled the air around the group, notifying them that the destruction happened not long before they came here. Perhaps a day ago at most.


    Soon, the group entered a room with a bunch of simr machines which exhibited some sort of ss tank on its body. All the machines were connected to a huge lodestone vein with a cacophony of wires.

 Chapter 121: The top of the World

    Chapter 121: The top of the World


    "This ce is good. I''ll cast my magic so we can see what had happened," A blindfolded woman donning a white cloak and had two horns, one silver and one dark-blue, said suddenly. She then pulled out what could only be described as a shining blue star from her pockets and started furiously absorbing the power that was contained inside it.


    "Do take your time, Prophetess though I do wish you could see these matters in advance" Another woman snorted coldly. She then held her hands to her mouth, like she was surprised with what came out of her mouth and she spoke without her own consent. This new speaker wore aplicated clothing that looked simr to feathers, which covered practically every part of her body, leaving only a small slit for her eyes to see. From the woman''s fingertips, countless metallic threads drooped down to the ground, swaying slightly with her movement.


    "Keep your tongue in check, Puppeteer," An Ivari man wearing something akin to a full body suit with a witch-doctor like mask said. He also had two horns, transparent and silver.


    "Bickering like children," one of the humans said with a slight sigh. It was a lean, white-haired young man with a half-naked top, whose body was riddled with tattoos of various sizes. The general theme seemed to be vectors of various sizes and directions.


    "Shut your mouths. We''ll make our decision after we find out what happened," A red horned Ivari said imposingly. His words caused the other people of the group to fall silent, albeit reluctantly.


    There wasn''t much chemistry in the group, but nothing extreme happened because of this one individual, Kal.


    Themander of the Paradra decided to personally apany this special team as its temporary leader since he was the only one capable of keeping the others in check. But even with him on board, the rest of the mages eyed each other with veiled hatred and distrust.


    Kal could also see that none of them were interested in showing effort in this small endeavor, except for the ones who were directly connected with one of the four countries.


    Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do about the situation. Even if he was technically part of the Authorities and he knew that the strongest entities on Alvox had a rtionship that could be called friendly, their descendants'' hate for each other could not be quelled so simply. The conflicts between them even influenced some of the newer Authorities'' viewpoints from what he could gather.


    Not to mention the fact that this whole operation was extremely rushed and forced. Everyone here was one of the most powerful mages in their countries, feared and respected by all but in the face of the Authorities, they were no more than children. They were abruptly gathered by their ancestors and were told to perform a joint operation in the Empress'' name. They didn''t even know what they were supposed to do, only receiving some info about some unknown organization that could pose a threat to the Empire.


    ''What threat?!'' they all thought in unison when they were first gathered. With a literal goddess on the side of the Empire, even if the Authorities failed, it would still stand. They would rather y around with their little countries and spells, instead.


    And worst of all, Kal had to act as their babysitter.


    ''It''s truly weird to call these people babies, though,'' Kal could not help but think in amusement.


    Noticing his yful thoughts, he realized that he was starting to be more like those ancestors of his. Irresponsible and carefree.


    Kal''s thoughts on the Authorities and on life in general experienced many changes. Obviously, he respected them greatly at first and thought the he should constantly strive to better himself. He had the fortune to meet some Authorities on his journey to be one of the strongest in the mortal World, and during those meetings, most of the Authorities he met acted extremely awe inspiring.


    Naturally, such a brilliant life caused Kal to be arrogant and prideful, along with the ssic rage issues of World of Fire mages. A raging ball of pride and ambition began to rule the North. It was heaven for the control faction, since they knew that they would see action soon. But after he had be strong enough, his ancestor, St, dumped all of his work on the super-imposer, saying that he was going to be traveling the North for the time being.


    Kal was thrilled at first, but quickly became bored of the job. His job was to maintain the World of Fire and take care of the Mana formation that worked the magical World. It was a simple job, although a bit time consuming. asionally, he would attend a meeting with the other Authorities that happened either due to someone''s boredom, or when something serious like this incident happened. During these meetings, he witnessed his awe and respect being crushed time and again at the sight of how the Authorities acted.


    Even his rage issues smothered down into nothingness after all these years of recing St.


    Thinking of thest meeting, Kal could not help but think of the ck-haired boy. It pissed him off greatly that the boy acted exactly like the older Authorities. It was like one of the older Authorities lost their memories and their powers and were set free to roam the World.


    But instead of the Authorities who were bound to the Empress, the boy was rtively free to do whatever he wanted. Just thinking about the troubles the Child might cause him filled his head with pain, forcing Kal to re at the boy with vehemence.


    And lo and behold, this morning, Kal received a report from one of his daughter Tribes that a child came and killed one of the instructors by ident. Hearing of the details, Kal learned that it was the same exact ck-haired boy! Thankfully, the super-imposer there, Nasst, took the boy under his care and was instructing him.


    ''A capable man, but a bit too ambitious Well, the Child can take care of himself. And even if he can''t, he still has Kena to rely on,'' Kal judged.


    Shaking his head, he focused on the "babies" he had to monitor, admiring the strength of this group.


    Thanks to his influence, there were three Ivari in the crowd with him. The other three countries sent two mages each, and the final member was a Cosmic.


    The Prophetess Irene was undoubtedly the most special World of Thoughts mage in the era. Thanks to the power of creation that Lady Veidra''s World possessed, the Prophetess was able to glimpse into the secrets of the World of Time.


    As her name suggested, she would sometimes see glimpses of the future, but aside from a few events, most of her visions never happened in reality. But nheless, she shared every vision she received with the rest of the World.


    Kal asked Twelve Jokes about this ability and thetter exined that the future is forever changing, so it was natural for some events to be influenced by many factors. Perhaps if the Prophetess didn''t inform the rest of the World of her visions, those events would happen in reality.


    But aside from her ability to see the future, she also had the ability to see the past. This ability of hers was much more sessful, although it took enormous amounts of mana and effort.She was currently working on the Spell''s construction.


    Kal then nced at the man in the hazmat-like suit. This was the World of Storms mage of the North that specialized in poison, Kortan. Sometimes, World of Water and Storm mages would sometimes choose not to cut with their Worlds, but to debilitate their enemies. Most of the poisonous attributes of their spells came from different Worlds, the World of Thoughts and the World of Life being the most widely used ones, because of its flexibility.


    Even Kal would have a hard time fighting Kortan, if the fight went on for long enough. Kal sparred with the mage before and never knew how he was poisoned. Obviously, he persisted even through his weakened body and won the spar, but he still needed Kortan''s help in cleansing his body afterwards.


    He then nced at the woman named Puppeteer. Kal didn''t know her true name, but she was quite famous for her obsession and her corpse-puppets. Most described her as a control-freak, and true to her nickname, she was a fearsome maritist.


    She was one of the few lucky mages who were able to find the perfect Beast Lord for them. She could take control of her enemies duringbat and turn them into one of her puppets. The method of her control was aplete mystery, aside from her nickname and her famed Puppeteer''s threads. Obviously it had certain weaknesses, but none would be happy to meet her, as it always meant that it was going to be a battle against many.


    Next to her stood a beautiful blue-skinned Undine with two tail-shaped bodies of water instead of her feet. A big bubble of water floated above ground and the undine swam freely inside it, wearing a dress that was decorated with variousces and patterns. Her two tail-ends would sway back and as she looked around the underground area with interest. Kal never saw this undine in his life, so he didn''t know much, but from a nce, he could see that she practiced a very traditional and mainstream specialty of the World of Water. Well, Kal was definitely not one to judge, since his mes could not be called anything unique or special.

 Chapter 122: The secret base

    Chapter 122: The secret base


    Kal then looked at the tattooed youth with some admiration. Vin, The Lightspeed. This one was quite famous. Amidst the row of proud and narcissistic Luminous Mages, who only thought about shining as bright as they could, Vin''s specialty embodied the speed of light. Although, apparently it wasn''t as fast as the Authorities themselves. The youth who was famous for his unruly attitude and his promise of never getting caught alive by his enemies, who then turning into a rebel thorn at the Mage King''s side, was effortlessly caught by Judeus, almost like a kitten by their mother.


    Kal smiled lightly and looked at the Mage King in question. A tall old man wrapped in a ck coat stood near Vin, eyeing the youth hatefully. Kal looked at the patches of grey-white hair somehow hanging from the man''s wrinkled, dry skin. His left eye waspletely white and unfunctional, moving about by itself asionally. His raspy,bored breaths indicated that the insides of his body did not fare well either. It truly made one wonder if the man was a real mage or not. If he was a mage, why hadn''t he used the Worlds to heal himself?


    The Mage King of the West was known for his other name: The Oathbreaker. In search of power and freedom, he broke all the Oaths and Contracts he made over the years. The result was his body''s current state and that he was banned from essing half the Worlds with the World of Life being one of them.


    ''If I remember correctly, his Darkness should be named the Purgatory Darkness or something, right?'' Kal pondered. Aside from the mages of the World of Thoughts and the World of Emotions, Dark mages had the most variety of specialties.


    ''I Suppose the unknown dark stimtes the imagination,'' Kal decided.


    The Oathbreaker''s Darkness specialized in punishing and condemning. Kal didn''t quite know how it worked, but he knew that some mages were greatly affected by the Mage King''s Darkness while others, not much so. Judging from the name and the effect, people guessed that it specifically targeted some and spared others. Some bored mages tried to make sense of it, but couldn''t quite guess the pattern.


    Kal then looked at the Cosmic who was floating near the area, friendly with everyone here speaking of their new Banking business. And what better customers than the leaders of the countries in the world? From what Kal could remember, this new version of theirs was a few times more sessfulpared to theirst attempt, which failed spectacrly.


    ''Truly, the Cosmics knew how to make money,'' Kalmented. After bing the leader of the Paradra, Kal needed to think about funds and so he had some dealings with this Cosmic inside the World of Space. He was named Devin Elmes. The Cosmic looked like a simple ck cat in the material World and even in the World of Space, the Cosmic was void ck. Obviously, its abilities were top-notch. It could probably trap everyone here for a good couple hours if it wanted to.


    Kal then looked at the two mages from the East. He knew nothing about the two. Although they were a mystery, they were friendly enough, bringing up some small-talk with the rest of the group.


    One was a short old man with a healthyplexion, wearing the traditional clothing of the East. The other was woman with glossy and brown skin, which looked almost bronze in Kal''s eyes. She had ck-hair and was dressed in tight-fitting clothing with a cloak over it. From under some areas of the cloak, the crimson-horned man could see a slim and fit body.


    ''A feast of the eyes'' the leader of the Paradra wasn''t dishonest in his likes. A pretty face like the Undine was nice to see, but in the end, the body triumphed.


    Then thinking of his children and wife, Kal''s face paled. Even the man who stood atop the World who was famed among the mortals for his unquenchable wrath would still fear the fury of his wife.


    Now one might wonder why the Authorities gathered such a random assortment of mages, who obviously didn''t want anything to do with each other. Well, during the meeting, when it was almost decided that only the North would send troops to this ce and share their discoveries with the rest of the world, Judeus suddenly proposed that since it was a rare opportunity, they should create a team of the best mages of all the magic Worlds. Judeus was really the type who should''ve been partying with the rest, but for some reason he would always be present in every meeting to fuck it up eventually.


    The other three immediately refused, but somehow, the rest of the Authorities who were drinking nearby heard about it and thought that it was a marvelous idea. They then pestered the opposing three to yield to their demands. They even forced Veidrakar to cast her grand divination magic (which was basically a 100% spot-on search tool) to find all the whereabouts of these strong super-imposers, so they could gather them the next day.


    ''I wonder if I''ll ever be like them'' Kal thought with resignation. As he finished his judgement of this ragtag group, Irene had finished casting her spell.


    "It is done. Although I couldn''t recreate the sounds, the images should be bright enough," she said.


    An illusory image became visible to the super-imposers around. The broken and vacant machines around them now lookedpletely functional and there were some teenagers inside, floating in the liquid. Suddenly, one of the teenagers started making a fuss inside the liquid tanks and a worker hurried to release him.


    ''It really might have something to do with reincarnation!'' Kal thought, looking at the scene in front of him.


    The released teenager shivered heavily and struggled to convey something to the worker. Thetter heavily nodded and supported the teenage boy outside the room.


    Kal and the other super-imposers followed behind the vision, all of them thinking of one thing or another.


    They witnessed the teenage boymunicate with someone through a magical device with a sorry expression, and then resolutely start destroying the base. They extracted all the motionless teenagers in the liquid tanks and put them in some freezing box as well. Then they all opened a huge portal and went through it.


    The apparition made of silver energies ended there.


    "Devin," Kal urged.


    The cosmic nodded slightly and started creating a portal. If one could see closely, it was an exact copy of the portal that appeared in Irene''s spell. Every small blur and unnoticeable swirl was recreated by this Cosmic who gracefully bowed for the rest to enter the portal.


    "Where does it lead?" Kal asked.


    "Some underground area, a bit south of the border between the North and the Varas''hati Empire," the Cosmic replied curtly.


    Kal lead the group and entered the portal. After him were the mages from the North and then the ones from the other countries. Finally, Devin floated through the portal.


    At the other end of the portal, the group found themselves in an even bigger secret base. Compared to the other one, which was still half open, this one''s walls were fortified by steel, which looked much more domineering and stable.


    Suddenly, Kortan cast a spell. The air around the group shifted ever so slightly, the changed air approached the others, seemingly asking permission to invade through their passive defenses.


    "Poison," he murmured from behind his mask.


    The others nodded and let the man''s spell engulf them, although they made sure to keep a secondary body scanning Mana formation in the backs of their minds. Only the Mage King refused and cast his own spell for dealing with poisonous gases.


    The spot they appeared in was some sort of tunnel with the only open path being ahead. Behind them was a broken-down tunnel.


    "Irene, can you cast your spell here?" Kal asked.


    "We will need to find a different ce. The strands of destiny are too scattered here," the blindfolded woman replied.


    "Nonsensical sophistry," spat out the Puppeteer impulsively and closed her mouth.


    "Let''s move forward, stay close," Kal ordered. He wanted to break through the rubble behind him, but he was expectant to see what this secret organization had prepared for them. However, he was careful to not underestimate his enemies.


    Even though he stood at the peak of the mortal World, the Authorities were always there to remind him of his limits.


    Two Tales was more than enough to beat this ten-man group here with his bare fists. Well, the others would be forced into a fist fight, anyway, with no chance of relying on their Worlds since they would all be locked in the Authority''s absolute domain.


    Kal shook his head and focused on the path ahead. The tunnel went on for a bit until a metal door appeared in the super-imposers'' path. The short old man of the East slightly pulled at air and the door gently opened.


    Inside the room ahead, Kal could see some strange devices scattered about. A dozen of them, to be exact. This time, the devices weren''t broken or burnt, lookingpletely functional. A dangerous feeling arose inside Kal when he saw them. Not a trace of mana could be felt from the devices, but there was something familiar about it to him. It also seemed poisonous to a degree.


    The room was quite obviously rigged with traps.

 Chapter 123: Unprecedented

    Chapter 123: Unprecedented


    No one wanted to get close to the door willingly.


    "Kortan, do you recognize this feeling that those devices give off?" Kal asked.


    "I have a guess when I was working with some unknown harmful metals, there was something among them that felt like this. If I''m remembering correctly, it was a lime-yellow ore which caused the cells of people who lived near it to break down. I tried isting the gases around it to see if they were poisonous, but I couldn''t quite find anything substantial so I dropped the idea," Kortan replied. Since Kortan called it an idea and not a project, Kal could be confident that the man wasn''t serious about it.


    "Hmph," the Puppeteer snorted and one of the threads on her fingers drooped down to the ground. Contrary to what one would expect, the thread did not fall on the ground, instead falling right through it. The Puppeteer pulled slightly and a pale man appeared from under the ground. Under his master''s orders, the man walked into the room.


    "There''s only these metal devices in this room. There''s also a door ahead, but it seems blocked from behind. Oh, there''s some sort of tablet with some writing on it, with a symbol that depicts a big star and a cluster of smaller ones around it," the woman informed.


    "The Religion of Ascendants?" the bronze skinned woman muttered.


    "Thenguage isn''t something I''m familiar with I''m pretty sure it''s not from the Empire" Kal heard the Puppeteer''s muttering, but then suddenly all the cells inside his body started screaming danger.


    He hurriedly engulfed the others in his Barrier made with an absurd amount of Mana and braced for impact. A blinding light came from inside the room swiftly engulfing the group. The others hadn''t stayed idle and had already stacked their mana barriers inside the one that Kal made.


    Some preferred to hide out the catastrophe through other means, like Devin who jumped into a portal and the Mage King who disappeared into the shadows.


    An intense wave of light engulfed the group in an instant. Even if they closed their eyes, the massive light still blinded the super-imposers around. Only Kal and Vin managed to keep their vision intact.


    Then, the shockwave of a million explosions hit Kal''s barrier, instantly shattering it and propelling the group towards the metal wall at impossible speeds. Thankfully, there were still seven more barriers inside, but they too, started shattering one by one. Even if they were blinded, the super-imposers worked in perfect unison, each of them reinforcing the mana barriers from inside after their own was shattered. A perfect cycle of seven barriers evaporating and reappearing one after another urred briefly.


    None tried to use their World spells and domains, since they all knew that this explosion had nothing to do with mana. But just because it didn''t involve mana, it didn''t mean that they were safe from it.


    Inside this fireball of doom, Kal could feel everything around the group evaporating into nothingness. The steel walls, the soil behind it and every insect and animal that happened to be in the area of 500 meters vanished forever due to the ungodly heat of the explosion. Even if their barriers protected them from the air particles and shockwaves that assaulted their surroundings, the mana-barriers weren''t exactly heat resistant and the air inside it was turning excited and lethally hot in a matter of milliseconds.


    Kal''s crimson horn shone brightly and a red colored forcefield was trying its best to push the heated air away from the group. But the mage''s efforts were doomed to fail, as patches of burnt skin started appearing on the bodies of the mages and their skins and muscles begin to melt. There was nothing that Kal could do about this. Even with the abnormally powerful physique of super-imposers, they still couldn''t resist the powers of nature. Everyone looked like they were wondering how to escape from this situation.


    But suddenly, everyone could see their surroundings and the mana barriers take on a Pink shade.


    ''The domain of the World of Life!'' everyone thought. They couldn''t understand why the mage from the East would betray them like this! If someone cast a domain here, they wouldn''t be able to use other Worlds, and their ability to bend raw mana to their will would bepromised as well.


    But to their surprise, this domain did not inhibit their abilities to use raw mana or even the other Worlds, all while healing their bodies at a rapid pace.


    Their melted skins and muscles started regenerating at a rapid pace, but some parts were still melting down due to the heat that pervaded them. Their bodies had turned into a deadly battlefield between life and death. The unimaginable pain of their cells dying and regenerating assaulted their heads, but the super-imposers gritted their teeth and diligently focused on keeping their mana-barriers up.


    If the air particles which were furiously flying around outside breached through their barriers, there wouldn''t be any bones left from their bodies. They would be ground down by the air particles and start evaporating like the metal and rubble around them.


    After five seconds which seemed to be a millennium to the super-imposers, the heat and power of the explosion was beginning to weaken. But even after the worst was over, the group inside the mana barrier was still surrounded by a redndscape. Their struggles weren''t over yet, but there was hope in their situation.


    "10 more seconds!" Kal shouted as he furiously dissipated the heat inside the barrier outside.


    When the heat became more bearable, the group noticed how the earth from above them was copsing onto them, since everything near the explosion had evaporated into nothingness.


    "Old man!" Kal shouted and the old man from the East, whose facial tissues were visibly regenerating nodded resolutely. The bronze skinned super-imposers strangely lenient domain allowed the old man to cast his spells without issue.


    The small old man red at the falling red rubble on top of him with evident hate and released the mana that was contained in his little body. The Earth above the group suddenly stopped and started to create a clearing in the middle. Kal and the rest sighed in relief and quickly floated up the makeshift tunnel.


    A few secondster, a ball of mana rose from the mess of scorching rubble. Inside the mana barrier, a group of individuals with countless patches of burnt skin could be seen floating. The undine of the group had the worst state. Only Kal and the ck woman from the East looked rtively normal. They immediately settled down and started treating their injuries.


    "What the hell kind of attack was that?" Vin asked through some coughs.


    "Don''t know, but it was almost as powerful as one of my strongest attack, but it happened much too fast," Kal muttered.


    Hearing the leader''s words, the Super-imposers nodded subtly. They all had shy attacks but none of them could create it this fast. Even with a prepared Mana formation, they would need at least a few dozen seconds to charge it with the required energy.


    "There''s too much of that dangerous substance here and some of them had taken root in your bodies. We need to fix it immediately. Even I can''t tell what the effects would be like," Kortan said warningly after warily ncing around.


    "Oh, I can cast my spell here," Irene said suddenly and hurriedly started casting, lest the ''strands of destiny'' disappear into nothingness.


    Kal left the Prophetess to her devices and nced at the damage done by the explosion.


    Andscape of ck and red filled his eyes. The heat of the explosion caused some of the sand to melt underground, with some areas looking like cooled downva stones. The clearing that the old man had created was spewingva from underground, which would quickly dry up when it met with air. Thankfully, the explosion happened underground in a desert, or the scope of the damages would be enormous.


    Kal could recreate the same scene every day if he wanted to, but obviously he wouldn''t. The World was too small for such repeated destruction. He would run out of ces to ruin after a few dozen years. And besides Kal''s spells were were much more contained and focused, nothing like this explosion which targeted everything around it.


    He looked around and saw the Eastern mage and Kortan healing the others'' burnt skin and cleansing them of the poison that was in their bodies. Everyone here was skilled in self-preservation, so they were all back in tip top shape after a few minutes. Devin and the Mage King reappeared as well. Both looked at the destruction around with a pondering gaze. Both seemed unaffected by the previous chaos. Kal didn''t bother getting impressed by the old man''s methods, as everyone here had their secrets.


    If it was a normal super-imposer Dark Mage that hid in their shadows, the light and heat would have broken into their shadows and boiled them inside it. But obviously, the Mage King wasn''t someone so weak.


    ''Fucking shit'' Kal sighed and his thoughts drifted again towards the explosion. There wasn''t a single thread of mana involved in the process of the explosion, which was baffling to Kal.

 Chapter 124: Inconcievable

    Chapter 124: Inconcievable


    The World of Alvox was one dominated by magic. Something like the previous explosion was unimaginable to Kal. As the red-horned Ivari worried about the future, Irene was finished with her spell. Everyone focused on the scene that was about to y out in front of them.


    A giant apparition appeared in the onlooker''s eyes. There was a colossal machine that floated above the ground, blowing sand everywhere, and what seemed to be a procession of people walking into it. When they tried to look at the people in the procession, they found that their faces were blurred. They also tried getting inside the gigantic machine, but some sort of unknown force would prevent them from doing so.


    "My powers aren''t strong enough to recreate everything, I''m sorry," Irene exined.


    Helpless, the group could only watch as everyone in the apparition entered the flying machine. The machine was huge, it''s main body was slim, but almost a hundred meters long(90 ish yards) with a little tail on its back, and on its sides, were two giant metallic wings that had two huge thrusters that constantly emitted sounds were attached. Under the great machine, a variety of smaller thrusters were lined up to keep the thing afloat without movement.


    Kal and the others had never seen such a thing, but they didn''t show too much shock, since they all knew that something like this was theoretically possible. Perhaps the other side had a great master of the World of Earth, who could create such masterpieces of metal. Though the amount of lodestones the thing might use made them all grimace in their hearts.


    Soon after, the procession ended and the machine was ready to move. The group looked at it anticipatingly. The giant device rose from the ground and started flying East with impressive speed considering its size.


    Kal was a bit surprised, but this speed wasn''t anything much in the eyes of the super-imposers. He flew while holding the Prophetess in his hands and cast a protective spell around her, so she could focus on her spell. He knew how fickle these strands of destiny could be.


    Two hourster, the group reached the ocean, with most having surprised expressions. What could be found in the ocean? Dubiously, they flew behind the apparition. After another three hours of flying, the machine reached a tall wall made of thick transparent mana. The ocean water would hit the mana wall and would flow back without being able to bypass it.


    Beyond the wall, the endless Darkness could be seen. The machine flew right through the mana wall without slowing or pausing, but the group of super-imposers did not dare give chase. Beyond the mana wall, only death awaited them.


    "The Edge of the World" Kal muttered out loud, hundreds of thoughts swirling in his head.


    "They can leave the Empress'' Lands?!" the Puppeteer eximed with shock.


    "Who are these people?!" everyone voiced out this question. Only Devin and Kal seemed to know something about the situation, but they couldn''t quite talk about the matter freely.


    "Mage King, Puppeteer, the old man from the East,b your countries for underground facilities. Hire specialists who are sensitive to Earth, and if it isn''t usible, beg the Beast Lords! Kortan, go to yourbs and research the yellow ore that caused that explosion! Devin and Irene, go to the first base we found and search for further clues! Also, try to make those machines work one way or another. I will inform the Authorities! The Life mage will stay with me and the others can wait for what the Authorities decide," Kal spat out orders and the group dispersed through the special portals that Devin created for them.


    They all knew that the weight of this revtion was much heavier than any of them could imagine. Some even wondered if the Final Empress would order a forced unification of the Countries. Everyone knew that they couldn''t protest even if they wanted to. The Authorities were there to enforce the Empress'' orders and any one of them was strong enough to unify these brokennds if they were ever ordered to. Just look at how easily they gathered them together.


    Kal was left alone with the female mage from the East.


    "What''s your name?"


    "Lku. Could you tell me why you kept me here?" the woman said in an annoyed tone. Though Kal could see some apprehension and worry on her eyes.


    "Don''t worry. I wanted to ask about the Religion of Ascendants. At first I shrugged it off as nonsense, but now that I see some connection here, I can''t quite ignore it now," Kal said.


    Lku looked secretly relieved at hearing the exnation. Kal couldn''t me her since he could guess why she was relieved. There was a string of women that Kal had before he settled down with his wife. He had dispelled his love for women afterwards, but a bad name couldn''t be erased so easily, so he was quite conscious about it.


    "I''m also as surprised as you are. The religion just popped out into existence one day and took over everything. It''s a bit embarrassing to say, but the East is that kind of ce, where anything is possible. But the security department that I head still performed an investigation on it, to see if it was connected to some shady business. But surprisingly, or unsurprisingly, we found that it had originated from a mental asylum. Some mage with a permanently broken mana-core who kept insisting that he was a Child of the Empress like a literal child that she conceived," Lku exined.


    Kal nodded for her to continue.


    "But we met a lot of cases like these, where the true masterminds would have another catch a snake in their stead, as we like to say in the East. So we investigated everyone that the man was associated with, but as you might guess, we weren''t able to find anything to work with, so we dropped the case. As for the religion itself, obviously some nefarious hands have recently been using it to further their greed, butpared to this incident, they''re rather tame," she finished.


    "What about the man who originated it?" Kal asked.


    "He''s been dead for quite some time now"


    "What kind of mage was he?"


    "That we don''t know, the man himself insisted that he was a master at every one of them, because of the whole Empress thing he believed"


    ''A dead end...'' Kal grimaced.


    "Perhaps they were just borrowing the name of the religion?" Kal wondered out loud, thinking about the organization that left behind such a powerful weapon.


    "Perhaps so, in our belief, the religion itself was quite legit when it started. Only now it is showing signs of corruption and fraud," Lkumented.


    "Thank you for your time, do tell me if you find anything about secret bases like these," Kal said and dismissed the woman through Devin''s portal.


    Kal was then left alone at the Edge of the World with a pondering face. Shaking his head, he opened a portal to Kena''s ce and walked through. Instantly, his senses were overwhelmed by the pressure that the Authorities gave off naturally. It took him almost a full minute to get used to this suffocating atmosphere. Since he was stronger, naturally he was more sensitive to such thingspared to the people in the city who probably didn''t even realize their city had be a den of monsters.


    ''When will they stop drinking and chatting?'' Kal cursed under his breath and entered the lounge like room in which the Authorities were sitting.


    "Oh, Kal, you''re back already. How was your little trip?" Va''eri said, her voice slightly tipsy.


    Kal began to exin the events of the day and a rare serious expression appeared on the Authorities'' faces. Kal was shocked, but found it fitting. He had never heard of anyone passing through the Edge of the World and surviving.


    The Authorities eyed each other silently before Two Tales sighed and dered that he will inform the Empress.


    Walking through the streets of the non-mage area, Evin was awfully happy. On his hands he held two snacks made of bacon and eggs, wrapped something akin to a torti. Reaching the familiar stall, Evin happily dered.


    "Rheaa~ Beautiful as ever!" Evin shouted and gave one of the snacks to the stall owner and sat down. Rhea took the food gracefully and started preparing two cups of coffee. If one might look deeply into her eyes, slight confusion could be seen in her pupils.


    Evin noticed this, but decided it was nothing. He sat down and breathed out a long sigh of relief.


    He was finally done with the illusions in the book. It took him almost a month to memorize the various illusions in the book, even with the help of the World of Thoughts. During this month, he would madly memorize the various spells during the morning and try them out during the afternoon.


    At the end of it, he had learned a total of 874 spells! Although he couldn''t use some of them, he would still know when he was under the effect of it.


    Truly, the imaginations of the various mages were vast and unending. Hallucinating illusions, visual illusions, auditory illusions, tactile illusions, trapping illusions, formation type illusions, intelligent illusions, and illusory spells. And each of these big groups would also have countless subtypes. It truly was a nightmarish month.


    With such a vast array of knowledge, Evin''s need for the Ne of Knowing had lessened greatly, so he gave it to Arza. Evin made sure to remind the boy that the Ne of Knowing could be bypassed if the the enemy illusionist knew of its existence.


    This morning, he had finally taken the test under the specialist that resided in the Tribe Grounds. To celebrate, he came to bother Rhea again.

 Chapter 125: Karma

    Chapter 125: Karma


    Only this brief moment when Evin woulde to drink coffee would give him the strength to plow through the mountainous task. At one point, he started to bring some food to Rhea and talk a bit before leaving. As for his ttering tone when he talked to Rhea, it had its reasons.


    ''Since everyone thinks I''m infatuated with the woman, why do I have to act differently?'' Evin decided one day and started fawning over Rhea. After a few days, Evin found the reactions of the other men and the stall owner herself to be truly amusing and invigorating, so he''s been keeping at this act of his for quite a long time. Eventually it became a bad hobby of his.


    Rith came out of his shadow and awaited her own coffee cup. Evin managed to pull the Cosmic into the ''Coffee Side'' thanks to his frequent visits to Rhea''s stall. The Cosmic did not enjoy a normal Americano, her cup of coffee was a bit special. She had Rhea boil milk and drank her coffee without any water. Evin pestered the Cosmic a lot for this sacrilege, but there wasn''t anything he could do about it.


    "Do you have any news from the main branch?" Evin asked Rhea.


    "Nothing worth mentioning, master Evin. Though they seemed to be quite shocked that the only customer of the stall is a young mage. I''ve also heard that our boss was just d that this branch didn''t do too badly," Rhea exined. She wasn''t exaggerating in the slightest. The price of coffee was truly too much formon folk to handle and the ones who were brave enough, they could only afford to buy coffee without sugar and milk. As for the wealthier patrons, there weren''t any, since none of them wanted to drink inside an open stall surrounded by a bunch of thirsty fellows, who doggedly eyed at the stall owner.


    "Is that so? Well, I''m d I''m keeping your business floating. It would be tragic if you left so suddenly, I''ll probably die or something. Look at these fellows who onlye to look at you. So pathetic. Don''t they realize that if they don''t support this business, they won''t be able to keep staring at you anymore? If they don''t like the bitter coffee, they should at least buy one cup of vored coffee every week! Ke-ke-ke," Evin said loudly with a repulsive snicker.


    Evin knew he was being extremely embarrassing, but who was he to care? How many embarrassing things had he done as a spirit? He waspletely able to pretend that no one could hear him and say these cringy lines. And at some point, he started to enjoy it.


    "Thank you, young master" Rhea''s voice trailed off as she put the cup of coffee in front of Evin. She then put another tter cup in front of Rith for the Cosmic to lick from.


    "Is there something troubling you?" Evin noticed something was wrong and asked in a low, normal tone. He knew when to stop joking around.


    "It''s nothing, young master," Rhea replied.


    ''If it''s nothing, then don''t act like that!'' Evin eximed inside, but outside, he was as tranquil as a monk. But in the end, it wasn''t his ce to care.


    ''Or is it? Since I''m technically chasing after her?'' Evin frowned.


    "Is that so?" Evin said and took a sip from the cup. Subconsciously, he brought out the Book of illusions and opened it.


    ''Oh wait, I don''t have to read this thing anymore,'' he realized and put it away.


    "It''s so great to be done memorizing these stupid illusions" Evin said while stretching and yawning.


    "Truly," Rith added from the side. She was forced to learn of these illusions as well at some point in her life, so she was quite bored most of this month. She would teach Evin some parts of that the boy didn''t understand, but most of the time, she would be teaching Runa and Enri about worldly matters. The two sisters were bing more and more intelligent as the days passed. Especially Runa. Enri was still hellbent on calling Evin her mother, so she fell into Evin''s naughty list most of the time.


    "What will young master do next?" Rhea asked with interest. Evin would show Rhea some of the more presentable, or entertainment like illusions to show off. Obviously, the Oaths inside Evin weren''t that happy about it, but since Evin didn''t exin how it worked exactly, they let it slide. This made the woman slightly interested in the topic of magic.


    "Hmm, I''m not really sure what my master will teach me next. But whatever it is, I''m pretty sure I''m not allowed to tell it to you," Evin said. Rhea was familiar with this answer. Every time she asked for details, Evin would gracefully dodge the answer. Lately, the boy didn''t even bother dodging and just outright refused.


    "Are all mages secretive like this?" Rhea asked.


    "Yep. Too bad formon people like you, huh? To always be in the dark like this," Evin said with a sigh and sipped at his cup.


    "I feel that a rtionship between young master and me would be impossible due to all these secrets," Rhea said wistfully.


    Evin almost spat out the coffee in his mouth.


    ''Is she serious?! Did I overact?!'' A mess of thoughts appeared inside Evin''s head. He took another look at Rhea''s face and found the other''s clouded eyes, which stared earnestly at Evin. He didn''t want to assume anything, but he was pretty sure the other was serious.


    ''Nooo-no-no. First of all, I''m a 6-year-old and you''re over twenty. And on the other hand, I''m a 300-year-old and you''re twenty. Either way it''s super bad! Don''t ruin your life like this!'' Evin screamed internally and began to think of ways to resolve this mess. Truly, ying around too much caused huge disasters.


    As Evin''s scalp was going numb, he heard a giggle from Rhea.


    "Look at your serious face! That''s what you get for ying around with me," she said, failing to suppress her charmingugh.


    Evin, understanding that he was had, calmed down, wiped the proverbial sweat off his forehead and sighed deeply.


    "Hmph, don''t'' joke around with your young master. I''m only 6, I''m allowed to y around, but not you," Evin said shamelessly.


    "Idiot" Rith said in-between her sips from the coffee.


    Rhea giggled and started brewing another two cups of coffee.


    "Since you always overpay, this one''s on the house," she said with a smile.


    Evin was a bit scared to increase his daily intake by another cup, but he couldn''t make himself refuse the offer. He was very carefully monitoring his body when it came to his hobby and was proud that he managed to only drink a single coffee cup a day. It also helped that Evin had toe to Rhea''s stall to drink coffee as hiszy personality did not wish to make two trips to one ce in a day.


    ''And no, I only pay in silvers because I can''t be bothered to carry around bronze coins,'' Evin retorted in his head as he drank the other cup of coffee, savoring the taste, as Evin knew that soon his tongue would stop registering this bitter taste.


    Evin talked with Rhea a bit and was teased endlessly by the stall owner. But Evin knew that he could only grit his teeth and call karma a bitch.

 Chapter 126: Rheas worries

    Chapter 126: Rhea''s worries


    Rhea was extremely happy like all her problems were resolved as she teased Evin.


    At first, Rhea was terrified of the boy. Mage were known for their arrogance and their power. Her father was a soldier who fought with the South and he would always talk about how a mage easily killed a hundred man battalion consisting of Myrmis. Myrmis were pathetically weakpared to trained soldiers, but mostmon men and women would still die at their hands.


    Thus, Rhea was always respectful when she interacted with the boy but most of the time, the boy acted like an idiot. Even more so when a Cosmic started appearing from inside his shadows. Their endless quarrellingpletely evaporated Rhea''s fears of mages. Curiously, she began to ask about the secrets of mages. How spells work, how do they cast magic, all that good stuff. Evin only told her some stuff about the Worlds, and nothing else.


    ''Fine, then,'' Rhea thought back then and decided to not mind it too much, but one day, a great big trouble appeared in Rhea''s life: Evin behaved like he waspletely enamored by her. And differently from the men that would simply nce at Rhea from a distance and try to create a private environment, Evin showed his aims very openly. He did not outright say he loved Rhea, but even a blind man could see his intentions.


    Rhea felt troubled by Evin''s attitude towards her. Obviously, she dismissed Evin''s cringeworthy lines as jokes, but Evin would asionally act extremely mature and observing. This contrast confused her greatly and she was having trouble coping with it, before one of the men in the street informed Rhea of Evin''s true nature.


    A vicious Child of the Empress who murdered one of the mage instructors on the first day of arrival, because he couldn''t control his bloodthirst.


    Hearing the man snitching on a six-year-old boy, Rhea dismissed it as some dumb attempt at her and didn''t care much at first. But gradually, she became convinced that the boy truly was a Child of the Empress.


    At first, she was shocked to actually see one of the Children with her own eyes. But then, she felt terror at how she interacted with a murderer on a daily basis. But calming down, she realized that the rumors about Evin and how the boy acted werepletely different. The ck-haired boy that interacted with her never showed any sort of viciousness or violent tendencies. She decided to get to the bottom of this matter and started asking around for information about Evin.


    Rhea was naturally curious and most of the time, her stall was painfully empty so she had a lot of free time.


    Her little series of questionings led her to a woman named Olken, who was the mistress of the instructor that died at Evin''s hands. Some said that she was definitely more than just a simple mistress, but the woman herself insisted on it, so none could reallyin about it.


    Olken lived in one of the better areas of the Tribe Grounds and she taught the local children how to read and write in Imperial. Rhea managed to catch her after one of her sses, but suffice to say, Olken didn''t react that well to a sudden visitor who wanted to ask about an incident where her lover died.


    Olken only showed some interest when Rhea exined that Evin was a frequent visitor to her stall, and that she was confused on how to approach the boy. The two went back to Rhea''s stall and Olken had a very sugary coffee at Rhea''s insistence.


    Olken told Rhea that she was sad about her lover''s death, but her interactions with children were able to cure her grieving heart. Thankfully, she had a lot of money umted, so she didn''t struggle financially afterwards. When Rhea asked her about Evin, Olken exined that she hadn''t spoken with the boy, but expressed that she didn''t me the child. The officials exined how it was an ident after all.


    Coming back to her dwelling, Rhea had more questions than answers. Olken was obviously lying about not meeting Evin By Rhea''s judgement, she was very sincere when she said that she didn''t me the child and she also wasn''t lying when she said that she was sad about her lover''s death. She also only showed a reaction when Rhea spoke about Evin.


    ''If she hated her lover, maybe she wouldn''t feel enmity towards Evin but if she liked her lover, she would definitely hate this random boy. Unless of course, they met at some point and resolved this misunderstanding somehow,'' Rhea concluded after mulling over the matter for half a day.


    But in the end, she still couldn''t make up her mind about Evin. How the boy resolved his enmity with Olken, she did not know. And after thinking about it so much, she gave up and decided to trust her own judgement. She decided not to look at thebels that others put on Evin and make her own mind about the boy.


    After getting to taste his own medicine in full, Evin went back to his mansion under some of the curious gazes of adults, who weren''t familiar with him.


    There weren''t any attacks on him since that incident a month ago, so Evin''s days were rtively peaceful. Like Nasst said, the attack seemed to only be some sort of warning and a way to apply pressure, but Evin wasn''t really one to feel pressured due to that small attack, so he was mostly at ease.


    He alsopleted a bunch of missions and increased his contribution points to almost 4000. Another month and he would be able to buy that Dark World spell. Evin would''ve been able to resolve the problem of contribution points in a few days if he wanted to, but there was a limit of missions he could take in a month, which was usually just 10.


    Thus, he had to fight for high-paying missions on the Mission Pir. Usually, he would have to contend with Arza, Bardom and the twins since they were the strongest mages in the Tribe. Out of slight fear, Bardom and the twins would offer Evin the high-paying missions, but Evin wasn''t so desperate to bully six-year-olds for something he could get eventually. It was a firste first choose kind of system anyway.


    As for Arza, the boy was doing great. He''d be more lively like before and very quickly became one of the most popr kids in the mage sses. Most of the children weren''t like Evin, or Koya who was used to ugly and violent scenes. They were still innocent and uplicated, so someone talented and charismatic like Arza would quickly be a little red-haired hero in their midst.


    ''I really had a negative effect on the child, huh?'' Evin thought with amusement.


    Rith had reassured him by saying that if Evin hadn''t spent time with the boy and showed him some of the shadier sides of the world, there would be a red-haired justice maniac running around instead, which made Evin feel like he did something good for this World.


    Thinking of such random things, Evin reached the mansion. The gaping hole of thest month was reced with a sturdy looking metallic floor with a stair right next to it. If Evin went down, he would be able to see the new Test room underground.


    But that wasn''t Evin''s destination as he walked towards the makeshift ssroom with only a single desk and a podium after saying bye to Rith. Inside, Nasst was sitting on the couch smilingly, as he invited Evin to sit down. The elder man was revolving a pair of grandly ornamental Baoding balls. After spending a month with the man, Evin became used to the other''s need to fidget, so he wasn''t very distracted.


    Oh, for those interested, Nasst''s super secret department that he had to censor its name and everything, was just the "Department of Intelligence of the Northern Tribe Union". Evin only found out about it in the World of Space Contract that he made with Nasst. Evin really didn''t know why it had to be kept secret, but he supposed that there were some rules attached to these kinds of things and didn''t think much about it. Evin asked Nasst about it, and the man just said it had something to do with the image of the nation.


    ''Guess spying on others is a bit of a touchy subject here,'' Evin shrugged the matter off his head.


    "I heard you finished memorizing the illusions. It was much faster than I expected. Congrattions," the elder man said.


    "I happen to be interested in the subject, so it was much more efficient," Evin replied honestly and brought out the book.


    "Keep it to yourself and make sure to practice its contents regrly. You''ll never know how it might save your life," Nasst replied with a smile and continued: "Now, let''s talk about your study n"


    Evin''s ears perked up and he gathered his focus.

 Chapter 127: The Dark Room

    Chapter 127: The Dark Room


    "Well, first things first. The somaturgy expert might take a bit longer toe. There seems to be something big happeningtely and everyone seems abnormally busy But. There is one thing that you could do for the time being, and that is to study materials that mages frequently use," Nasst said and gave Evin another thick book.


    Evin took it in his hands and found that although it was quite thick, it was mostly filled with drawings of various organic and inorganic materials.


    "You don''t have to memorize that book, but you could give it a read, get familiar with the materials, especially the ones that work well with the Dark World. If you encounter something difficult, you can ask me, or the other instructors. It seemed like the previous instructor assigned to you, Losha, was quite knowledgeable about various Mana-beast variations and Lesser races"


    Thest two words drew Evin''s attention.


    "Lesser races?" he asked.


    "Well, nowadays most call them Lesser races for convenience, but it''s just a racially derogatory term. You know of the Myrmis, right?" Nasst asked and Evin nodded.


    "The Myrmis, the countless skinshifter variations and the Chaos creatures are considered one of the Lesser races. Even the Cobfolk, Griffins and the Undines were considered to be part of these Lesser races at some point during the Empire''s history," Nasst said.


    "What are the Chaos creatures?" Evin asked. He knew most of the beings listed, but he never heard of Chaos creatures.


    "Oh, it makes sense that you''ve never heard of them. They''re a race of creatures that are hunted extensively since they can use what''s called ''Vital essence''. The term sounds simr to the energy from the World of Life, but there are some fundamental differences Let''s see, do you think you will be able to grow another pair of arms using the World of Life?" Nasst asked, after thinking slightly.


    "Probably not. But considering the fact that we can strengthen our bodies using the same World, I''m guessing there are methods to achieve it," Evin answered.


    "Strengthening our bodies andpletely changing them are twopletely different topics. The World of Life assists us in strengthening and healing, but Vital Essence assists us in the matter of mutations and change. But whether or not you can survive that change is another question as well," Nasst said and continued.


    "The biggest example should be the Horn Ceremony. The crucial spell that is cast on your body during the Ceremony is a World of Life Spell, sure, but did you know that it''s just an extremely powerful healing spell? Without the Vital Essence helping you form the horns, you wouldn''t be able to experience any change. But, if one only used the Vital Essence, without any healing measures, the children would simply die because their bones are being ground down and directed towards their heads. Thebination of the two allows us to create the miracles of the Horn"


    Evin nodded and realized that the old man in front of him was much more authoritative than he imagined.


    "So these Chaos creatures, they''re able to make use of this vital essence without issues?" Evin asked with shock.


    "Exactly. Newly born Chaos creatures would look like slimy blobs of liquid. As they walk around, they would start consuming everything that contains organic materials into its bodies: leaves, grass, insects, and some unlucky small rodents. Obviously, they''re not much of a threat at this stage"


    "But whatever they eat, its features will start appearing on their bodies. If it eats a huge amount of nts, it would start looking like a giant mass of living vines and moss. If it eats arge amount of worms and insects, its general shape will start looking like those. Obviously, if it bes big enough and starts hunting mammals and birds... well, you get the point," Nasst said softly. Evin hearing about these shapeshifting slimes, felt that he truly was in a magical World.


    He didn''t understand why hearing about these creatures made him feel more like in a magical World, even though he used magic on a daily basis.


    "Aside from these creatures'' ability to consume various biological materials, they also possess the talent that many researchers like to call: ''Perfect life structure''. It''s just a fancy way of saying that these slimes can arrange and use the materials they consume in the most optimal way possible. The researchers of the past thought that they were using some sort of World of Life spell, but eventually, at the cost of hundreds of experimental subjects, they were able to find out about Vital essence"


    "How are they born?" Evin couldn''t help but ask.


    "Now that''s a mystery. Supposedly, they could be born anywhere with rich flora or fauna, even inside aboratory or botanic garden that meets the requirements. But we can''t bepletely sure of this, since there were some cases of them appearing near one of the Oases of the East," Nasst replied and continued exining the creatures.


    "In any case, after a Chaos creature bes big enough to absorb big mammals, their danger level increases greatly, as they start to instinctively hunt for living beings with mana inside them, most of them being mana-beasts. Obviously, they sometimes attack mages, but mages wouldn''t have trouble against these creatures, but children or infants with mana-cores aren''t quite exempt from the danger of Chaos"


    "You might think that they''re not much of a threat even with a mana-core, but remember their ''Perfect life structure''? These creatures can somehow use their mana-cores even better than mages, directly creating phenomena in the World using raw mana. Their danger level shoots up the rooftop," Nasst said with some admiration. Evin didn''t understand why.


    "What''s so good about directly using raw mana?" Evin asked with some expectation.


    Nasst grinned and let go of the podium he was stroking and stood up.


    "That''s a topic forter. For now, follow me to the test room"


    Evin was slightly disappointed, but he could only wait.


    Entering the underground test room, he saw therge empty room, reinforced with metal beams on the corners and some walls. Between the steel beams, there was a water and fire-resistant, malleable material that was designed to absorb shock. There were also some Magical Devices inside the room, which were designed to record efficiencies of spells and its general power output on the walls, some measurement mats, among various other tools. And everything that was measured would be show up on a small disy. Evin spent a lot of time in this room, testing out his spells and illusions for the past two weeks after it had been constructed.


    "Today, we''ll talk about gestures and chants. Cast your Dark Room," Nasst ordered.


    "My what?" Evin asked. In his head, a certain room that could be found in strip clubs and brothels appeared.


    "Your Dark World Spell, the one which engulfs the area around you in thick shadows," Nasst exined.


    "Oh, my Shadow Zone," Evin understood.


    "Shadow Zone?" Nasst vocalized the words like he was offended by it. "Anyway, everyone else calls it the Dark Room, so let''s not be overly creative here," he then said.


    Evin didn''t know whether tough or cry, but didn''t say anything and focused on the spell.


    Since his mana-core wasn''t filled, it took him half a second to absorb the energy from the Channeling Artifact and another three seconds and a half for him to visualize the Dark spell in his head. It wasn''t aplex spell, and most of the work was done with the help of the World Sprites.


    "Four seconds, not bad. I can see that you spent a lot of time training this spell," Nasst praised and continued: "Now use your Suffocation spell on me"


    Evin did as ordered and about six secondster, Nasst could feel his body sending warning signals. With little effort, he dispelled the spell around him and asked for Evin to start floating.


    It took Evin much longer to construct the floating spell from scratch, since there were too many parts and elements to this spell. When he finally started floating, 15 seconds had passed. Usually, Evin would start constructing the spell the moment he would feel something wrong. This was why it usually felt like it took him a really short time to start flying around in a battle.


    Nasst, looking at the result, was pleasantly shocked. 15 seconds seemed like a long time in life-or-death situations, but it was still an extremely short time for such aplex spell. Smilingly, he gave Evin a small scroll with Thought imprints on it.


    Evin sent mana inside the scroll and found that it was some kind of a shockwave-type World of Storms spell. The idea was to condense air from around the area and then explosively push it away from one''s body.


    ''It reminds me of that spell that Parvan used, except his was a World of Earth spell,'' Evin noted.


    Since he wasn''t that unfamiliar with the World of Storms, he was able to recreate the spell in five tries. But even his sessful attempt took him 30 seconds to activate.


    "Get close to the wall and use that ability," Nasst ordered. Evin understood that thetter wanted to measure the spell''s power.

 Chapter 128: Gestures

    Chapter 128: Gestures


    Evin cast the newly constructed spell. A small pop sounded and a rather powerful forcefield hit the Test room''s walls. A beeping sound came from the magical device with a disy and a ''12 P'' alongside a ''84%'' appeared on it. The P stood for punch and 1 Punch was the average punching power that a normal adult male could exert on the measuring device. 12 P meant that Evin''s forcefield hit the wall with the power of 12 punches.


    Evin did a little experiment and found that the strongest attack that he had was Enri''s bite at 93 P at her biggest size. It wasparable to a motorbike hitting something at the speed of 50 km/h(~30mph). The fox-head also said that she became a bit stronger after turning from a maw into a proper head. Evin was really surprised at Big sis'' biting power.


    Evin then tested his diving spear stab on the mat outside, which was a surprisingly solid 50 P. His punches and kicks with some added extra weight from the Heavy World would usually wary from 5 P to 25 P depending on the situation. For those interested, Arza''s Life energy infused punches hit at around 30 P consistently. A proper little monster.


    Anyway, 84% meant the efficiency of Evin''s spell. This meant that 16% of the mana that Evin used was wasted. It seemed a bit shabby, but Evin was quite proud of this number.


    "12 P, not too shabby. Now tell me, what problems did you feel?" Nasst asked.


    "The spell seems simple, but it takes too much time to gather the air around myself and push it away. There''s also the problem of making sure that the spell is strong enough. And just like the scroll exined, I can''t be indiscriminate about pushing away the surrounding air around myself, or else I will end up suffocating myself for a few moments. That seems to be the gist of it," Evin listed the problems he found.


    "Something like that. Now look carefully, I''m not going to hide the World colors I''m using and I''ll be going to use a Channeling Artifact. Oh, and stay a bit further away and plug your ears," Nasst said.


    The elder man then started constructing the same spell as Evin. In only six seconds, theplex spell that Evin was having trouble with was constructed from scratch and a loud pop resounded in Evin''s ear. Strangely, even though there should have been a big shockwave of air in the room, Evin didn''t feel a thing. Curiously, Evin nced at the disy and could see the numbers: 436 P with 96%.


    He wanted to spit blood when he saw this ridiculous number. 12 P wasn''t lethal, but if someone took it to their body, it would be enough to break their nose or smash in a rib. 436 P was like getting mmed by a speeding truck. Not to mention that it would all be concentrated in a small area around Nasst. If Evin was standing there instead of the wall, his whole front side skeleton would have be crumbled fragments at this point. It was probably even worse than that. And the 96% was just an icing on the cake.


    Evin could also see that even the speed at which the old man absorbed the energy from the Channeling artifact was faster than him. A feeling of reverie appeared inside him.


    ''This old man is a monster! The wall that could take the attack without issue is also a monster!''


    "Well, don''t be surprised. How long do you think I''ve been casting spells?" Nasst smiled and continued: "Now, look again. Here''s the more interesting stuff"


    Nasst then snapped his fingers and only half a secondter, when Evin couldn''t even understand what was happening, he heard a loud pop enter his ears before he managed to block it properly. A deep ringing sound filled his brain, as he struggled to get ahold of himself.


    ''What the hell was that? How did he cast so fast?'' Evin couldn''t help but be amazed. He realized that even before his mind was able to register what had happened, Nasst was able to snap his fingers, turn transparent in an instant, construct the spell and then set it free.


    "Haha, are you surprised? That''s the power of gestures!" Nasstughed loudly.


    "How did you do that?" Evin couldn''t help but ask.


    "It''s nothing special, just a self-hypnotizing trick. I trained myself to absorb mana from my channeling artifact and cast this particr spell every time I snap my ring finger" Nasst exined.


    Evin looked at the disy inside the room and saw 354 P, 95%. A bit weaker than the previous disy, but it was still extremely powerful considering its speed.


    "Howe the effects are so exaggeratedly fast?" Evin wondered out loud.


    "You underestimate the power of your mind and muscle memory. Or should I say brain-mass memory. After you practice thousands of times like me and then snap your fingers, even if you don''t want it, your subconscious will cast the spell for you. You just have to give themand with the act of snapping your fingers and the spell will be ready in a second. Obviously, you could have different gestures. For example, if you frequently use a weapon, and it''s a bit hard to snap your fingers, so you could lightly grip with either one of your fingers and a different spell will appear. One more popr way is to use chants, though do make sure you don''t usemonly used words to cast spells," Nasst chuckled.


    Evin brought out his slim spear and held it in his hands. One by one, he exerted a bit of force with each of his fingers and found that it was usible.


    "But don''t be too impatient. It will likely take you a long time for the speed to reach my levels. As for how to train your mana-core and subconscious to act like this, just perform the desired gesture or chant and perform the spell. Try your best to do it subconsciously. As for how? That''s for you to figure out, since every mage has their own special method. If you''re really struggling, you can ask me and copy my way, but I don''t really rmend it," Nasst said.


    "Thank you!" Evin said enthusiastically.


    "Do you have any questions?" Nasst said calmly.


    "Howe your spell is so much stronger than mine. I mean, the difference between 12 P and 400 P is enormous," Evin asked.


    "Oh, that''s mostly because the difference in our will is enormous," Nasst said it in such a matter-of-fact way, that Evin couldn''t help but conclude that he wascking in training. He looked down dejectedly and dreaded the idea of more practice. Looking at the boy''s fears, Nasstughed heartily.


    "But I did use a small trick when casting. It''s called Limiting. Basically, you just forcefully cast your spell in a smaller area-of-effect, where your spell is only effective in it. You didn''t really feel the shockwaves from my spell falling on you right?"


    "But isn''t that less cost efficient?" Evin asked confusedly. Since you''re pushing air particles away from yourself, it should be much easier to just leave it be after the initial push.


    "Call it the will of the Empress, or whatever you want, but that''s how spells work in this World," Nasst shrugged and then reminded: "Don''t think about it too much, or else your proficiency with some magic might fall"


    Evin thought that the man was joking and tried it out himself. He constructed the spell as always, but also added a little order to keep the effects in a one step radius around himself.


    Pop. The sound simr to a veryrge balloon bursting appeared again and Evin curiously looked at the measuring disy: ''20 P, 79%''


    ''What the fuck...? This... I don''t like this''


    ''Wasn''t casting magic in this World supposed to be dependent on the mage''s imagination and general knowledge of the World? Then why does it do such illogical things randomly? And it isn''t like the sound was blocked... I could definitely hear the sound that Nasst''s spell made and it seems that he can hear mine too,'' Evin grumbled in his head hatefully.


    "Don''t think too much about it. Just think of them asw of the World, even though I agree that it could be frustrating sometimes. More importantly, I have another thing to help out with your willpower problem. I suppose one could call it a method of boosting it, rather than simply strengthening it. I was going to teach it to you a bitter, but you can give it a read if you want to," Nasst said and brought out another book. Evin looked at the contents with a slight frown and found that it was a method to replicate the effects of the World Sprites!


    His previously fussy mood also disappeared like it never happened.

 Chapter 129: Switches

    Chapter 129: Switches


    Evin knew exactly how powerful the effects of the World Sprites were. If he could cast the other spells like he could cast Dark spells, who knows how strong he might be.


    "Now, now, read it at your leisureter. We still have some other things to discuss," Nasst cleared his throat and continued: "If you don''t have questions or problems regarding these subjects, we can get to the next topic. Choose a World that you want to use more and I''ll try my best to exin it to you"


    Evin didn''t have much to think about and replied immediately. This matter was one of the original reasons why he chose Nasst over Deminte.


    "The Heavy World"


    "Ah, I wondered why you chose me over the colddy. So, it seems that my Horn had grasped your attention," Nasst smiled and his hands seemed to mechanically reach towards his dark-purple horn.


    "Well, I''m afraid you will be disappointed by what you hear. I''m sure you''ve realized that I was one of the children who was offered ''the Choice'', since I know so much about the topic"


    Evin nodded and waited for the other to continue.


    "There is actually one more secret that I usually keep to only myself and my closest. I''m actually a Child of the Empress like yourself," Nasst winked with a grin. Evin was slightly surprised, but he didn''t really panic. He knew he wasn''t the only special one in this World, so it wasn''t that shocking to meet a Child of the Empress.


    "How many Children like us do you think there are in this World?" Nasst asked after watching the boy digest the information.


    "I can''t imagine"


    "Surprisingly little! Even though the actual number of the Children of the Empress at any point of time is less than thirty in the entirety of Alvox, practically all the mages and maybe one out of three of non-mages know of us. Some joke that the Children of the Empress try to hide this information from the rest of the World, but we both know how pointless the act is," Nasst said with an amusedugh.


    ''Only 30 in the World'' Evin fell into thought, but judged that it was reasonable.


    "I suppose it''s a hot topic. Everyone wants a second chance at life, so a concept like reincarnation would catch people''s attention," Evin reasoned.


    "Exactly! Weirdly, I was one of these enthusiasts. Always thinking about a better next life with better circumstances. In my previous life, I was also a mage. I''ll spare you the details, but I had a terrible weakness. I could never understand the intricacies of the Heavy World. I''m sure you could guess now, but a mage that can''t fly is like an eagle without a wing. It''s just too pitiful. As the mages that fly above your head bombard you with explosive spells, you can only grit your teeth and try to snipe them down to the ground"


    "Ironically, this weakness of mine was actually the cause of my death. I was thrown off a tall cliff and even though I hoped to lessen the impact with my other magic, there''s only so much that a mage can do without a proper fix. I remember swearing that if I ever be one of the Children of the Empress, I would definitely find a way to fly in the skies," Nasst narrated.


    "After I was actually reincarnated, you won''t be able to imagine how overjoyed I was to find myself in a family of Northerners. Discreetly, I tried out the Worlds and found that my ursed inability to cast the Heavy World still persisted even after my rebirth. At this point, I realized that staying low wasn''t an option. I started to study the various different ways I could influence the Horn ceremony to grant me a Heavy Horn. Superstitions, shady ceremonies, Heavy World Shards I tried out everything I could"


    "Obviously, these things cost money, which I tried my best to obtain But I started to garner too much attention on myself, which lead to some bigshot taking notice of me and offer me the Choice. Obviously, a cacophony of strings and conditions were attached to it, but I couldn''t deny it. It took me the better half of my life to get rid of these strings and finally establish my own freedom," Nasst said with evident mncholy.


    "Well, what happened after you got the Horn?" Evin asked.


    "Nothing special. I could fly, make things heavier and make things lighter. It was barely better than other mages, but I was d to have chosen the Heavy World. Although I could tell that I spent a bit more mana on these spellspared to others, so I''ve thought of ways to reduce the mana intake slightly," Nasst said and started exining his thought process to Evin.


    ording to the man, most mages would apply the Heavy energy to themselves, when they attempted to fly. But Nasst reasoned that when we be heavy, the force we exert on the ground bes bigger. So, he tried to focus on a connection with his body and the ground itself. To the man''s surprise, an invisible connection that represented his connection with the ground seemed to be apparent in his mind. He couldn''t see, or touch it, but he could definitely feel it.


    Nasst then tried his best to study this connection and realized that it could be affected with willpower. He tried cutting it off, so he could fly freely through the sky, and to his surprise, he could very easily fly through the sky. This method cost much less manapared to the other method. It was also much easier to make something heavier using this method. Just send more Energy to the connection between the ground and the object.


    Evin, who knew a bit more about gravity, could understand it much easier. Obviously, the invisible connection that Nasst was talking about would be gravity. Or at least some kind of representation of it in the Heavy World. Evin immediately began trying out this theory.


    It took him a bit of time to readjust his mind, but after he focused to feel for this invisible connection with him and the ground, a small strand of dark purple string seemed to appear in his vision. Unlike Nasst, who could only feel it, Evin had an even easier time.


    ''The Worlds are so convenient!'' Evin happily started ying around with the string. Thickening and lessening this purple thread, he could float up or be heavier. And everything took only a fraction of the mana that it used to cost.


    "This is so magical If I''m able to perceive this thread at this point of my life, what would happen if I get the Heavy Horn on my head?" Evin muttered.


    "Wait you can perceive the thread?! Describe it for me!" Nasst could not believe the child''s mutterings. Evin was startled, but he did not panic and described the dark-purple thread that filled his vision. As he was describing it, he could see that every object had a simr thread attached to it. Believing Evin, Nasst fell into deep thought. Evin also thought deeply about the situation and realized something even more crucial.


    "Do all the other Worlds have something simr to this invisible connection?" he blurted out.


    Nasst smiled at the wondering expression on Evin''s face and replied.


    "So they say They''re called the ''World switches'', since when a mage finds out about them, their control of the World climbs to a much higher level, like a switch had just been flipped.But the ones that could actually feel and see them are quite few. Some even say that certain World switches need to be heard, felt, or even tasted. From what I heard; the ones who strongly feel the emotional effects of the World have an easier time seeing these connections," Nasst said and looked at Evin thoughtfully.

 Chapter 130: World Chameleon skins

    Chapter 130: World Chameleon skins


    Evin could now understand why he could so easily grasp this purple strand. The original effects of the Heavy World on him were so great that he practically died at its hands! But Evin wasn''t sure if he should exin that to Nasst.


    And besides, he had a lot of other things to think about. For example, what would be the invisible connection of the Dark World? What would its effect be like? What about the World of Storms?


    "Do you know of other World switches?"


    "You think other mages are nice and easy to bully like me and would just give away such secrets freely?" Nasst snorted. Evin realized his naivety and tactfully shut his mouth, but Nasst''s next words caught his attention.


    "Although it''s hard to find information on these obscure topics, the Academy of the West should have the relevant information. Everyone knows how the Western Oath forces their mages to report every finding to the Country, someone should have talked about the World switches, Nasst said with a smile.


    The old man''s words caused a change in Evin''s ns. He was wondering whether he should study in the Academy of the West, since he would be under the tutge of Nasst. But this interaction showed that Nasst could not possibly know everything about magicians. The Academy on the other hand, was a huge institution which gathered thousands of specialists that worked to solely develop the research of magic.


    Even in the unlikely case where Evin would not be able to learn something substantial in the Academy, he would still be able to soak his mind with the different opinions and thoughts of various mages.


    "Well, you have your own problems to attend to. Be familiar with the magical materials and practice your gestures. There will not be a test for this, but the knowledge you will learn of will not be useless and the gestures will one day save your life. After you manage to sessfully cast one spell in under two seconds with the help of gestures, you can ask my opinions on one more World," Nasst said to Evin.


    "Oh, almost forgot. Come to this room tomorrow at seven in the morning. I will be teaching you about a certain type of martial arts," the elder man said and dismissed Evin.


    Evin didn''t stand on ceremony and went to his room to study the books. He started with the one about magic materials. Rith was lying on his bed, seemingly thinking of something, while she idly nced at Evin and his new book. The Cosmic didn''t participate in the sessions, so she would be waiting for Evin to finish in his room. But for some reason, Evin could tell her anything he learned about the things that he learned from Nasst, without the Oath trying to kill him. Enri and Runa also seemed to be okay, since they were originally Evin''s World Sprites.


    Evin used to wonder about how the Cosmic seemed to be always exempt from the Oath''s radar and inquired about it one day. The Cosmic cryptically told Evin that this body of hers wasn''t actually the real her and that the Oath only registers her as a dead carcass. Outrageously, Evin argued that Rith was eating, sleeping, having sex, and giving births to very real kittens and Cosmic kittens, reminding her to think about Riz, Raz and ckspot, but Rith just told him to not worry about it.


    Shaking his head, Evin focused on the book.


    The contents weren''t that interesting. It mostly described widely used materials and while Evin was a little drawn at first, very quickly, he found that reading through hundreds of obscure materials and their uses was boring and dull. So, Evin found a list that described the most popr magical beast materials and started reading.


    [It''s quite nostalgic to read all these materials again. Our teachers forced us to memorize all of them and their prices, since we''re expected to be able to barter sometimes] Rith''s voice sounded.


    [The Cosmics have it tough, huh?] Evin replied and read out loud.


    "Storm eagle feathers, Heart of a smander Hmm, a dragonshifter''s scale Can''t believe they still sell these Oh I suppose some people managed to save and capture some of them after they lost their minds Oh, World Chameleon''s skin! This fucker!" seeing the name of the ursed material that he has to swallow every few days, Evin flipped through the pages and found the passage that described the item shortly.


    [World Chameleon skin. A type of magical Chameleon skin that is by mages to conceal the World energies inside their bodies. Due to this reason, the World Chameleons are reared in every country in the optimal environments. Since theyy about six to seven eggs a single time and also shed their skins regrly, the material isn''t expensive and is the most widely used method for concealing World energies.


    There''s difficulty in preserving the skin for usage, and requires a special acidic solution. Most of the time, diluted stomach acids of ostriches, or crocodiles are used. In some cases urine of sheep can also be used]


    "Fuck! No! Why did I read that!"


    Rithughed at the boy''s exaggerated reaction from beside him.


    Evin began to promptly unread the things he just witnessed. Furiously, he began to flip through the pages of the book in search of other methods to hide one''s World energies. Finally, his gaze focused on a passage.


    [The Heart of the Faceless. A particrly rare and sought after material from before the rule of the Empress. Contrary to the name which describes something organic, this material is a precious gemstone with a deep red color, which pulses to the heartbeat of the one holding it. When one holds this gemstone on their hands, their World energies will be disguised, but excessive contact will result in one''s face losing its features over time. There are also spections of how it grasps the hearts of people holding it, making them unable to lose physical contact with the item due to the high number of mages who end up faceless because of it]


    The serious content of the passage calmed Evin slightly.


    "This gemstone is quite useful, but the side effects are quite harsh. Since the book did not mention anything about using the World of Life to counteract the side effects, it mustn''t have been effective," Evin reasoned.


    "Yep, I know some methods to counteract these effects, but this book doesn''t seem to contain it," Rith said.


    "Wait, you possess these things?" Evin asked curiously.


    "Ye," Rith said and jumped up. From inside her storage space, she brought out something akin to a small heart-shaped rock lodged into a pendant case.


    "You can try it out," Rith said haughtily.


    Evin held the jagged stone in his hand, and it seemed toe to life as it took on a deep red hue. It then pulsed with Evin''s heartbeat.


    "Is this why I never see you eating Chameleon skin?" Evin asked with jealousy.


    "Mhm, But I do have to eat it sometimes, since I can''t over rely on the stone," Rith hummed happily.


    "Are there other methods to conceal my World energies?"


    "There are, but most of them are either almost non-existent or have severe detriments. As for the skins, their only detriment is their repugnant taste," Rith said calmly.


    Putting the matter out of his head, Evin skipped to the part where the book described Mana-beast variations.

 Chapter 131: Nyxium

    Chapter 131: Nyxium


    80% of the time, Mana-beasts would simply absorb some sort of mana from their surroundings and be a normal mana-beast. But in certain areas, like the sea and underground, the number of variations would increase. In the sea, most of the mana-beasts can affect the liquids in some way or another. While deep in the Earth, most mana-beasts would be able to use the World of Earth to some degree. These special variations usually had some very good materials on their bodies, so they were widely sought after by all mages.


    ''Perhaps the Vulpine Mother was a species like these?'' Evin wondered, as his consciousness searched through his shadow and found Enri sleeping peacefully inside Evin''s shadow, surrounded by a bunch of World Sprites.


    The book then described some species who were naturally born with these abilities and were hunted to extinction. This act caused some of the powers in the World to create specialized environments to preserve the rest of the special Beasts.


    But all of this wasn''t important to Evin. What he was most interested in were the Dark Mana-beasts. Most of the beasts that could be created from their normal counterparts were huge insect and arachnid-types from the deep underground. These types of creatures were extremely difficult to hunt, since they all opted to ambush and surprise their enemies from the shadows. If one didn''t have the ability to see in the dark, they would usually have a very bad time against them.


    But their carapaces were the best materials for creating armor and weaponry, so they were widely sought after by many mages, not just Dark World mages.


    Compared to other types of mana-beasts, insect-type or arachnid-type mana-beasts had the biggest size difference between normal insects and mana-infused insects. For example, tier-2 mana infused spiders could reach the sizes of dogs and cats, while tier-3 spiders might even be as big as cows or horses.


    Inparison, the tier-3 bull that Evin killed in the Beast''s den was only about 50% bigger than a normal bull.


    Thankfully, the number of tier-4 insect-type mana beasts could be counted on the fingers of one''s hands during the long history of the Empire. Since insects were animals that was consideredcking in individual intelligence, they simply couldn''t cross the huge obstacle that was tier-4.


    But every time it happened, there were endless trouble for the World''s denizens. When an insect-type reaches tier-4 it automatically develops the ability toy eggs, turning it into an endless source of tier-1 mana-beasts. While these little creatures would not pose much threat individually, the numbers they could reach were truly astounding. Even a super-imposer would find it troublesome to deal with thousands of tier-1 and tier-2 mana-beasts.


    ''But how can even males turn into breeding machines? Is it the Empress'' will? Wait, it''s not like the author of this book knows that the tier-3 insect that evolved was a male or not This is bullshit,'' Evin found a mistake.


    ''Then that part about the Chameleon skins containing stomach acids and urine was probably wrong as well,'' Evin concluded happily.


    Even though he convinced himself that this book''s author was a scammer, he still continued to read about the Dark World rted creatures with interest.


    Aside from the Dark insects, there were asional mentions of Dark rted creatures in the deepest depths of the seas. But sadly, even with the help of magic, the expeditions to the deep were not something that could be done so effortlessly. Perhaps the Undines have a better understanding of the seas, but the North was certainlycking in this field of research.


    Evin searched for more of such creatures like the Vulpine Mother, but sadly he wasn''t able to find anything. The Vulpine Mother''s existence was only possible thanks to a series of very unlikely coincidences.


    But although there weren''t much info about organic Dark materials, Evin was able to find a rather special inorganic material.


    Most would agree that Sorbothium was the most popr material on the market, due to its unparalleled ability to absorb mana and any kind of World Energy. But it wasn''t the best when a mage wanted to only work with the Dark World.


    For the mages who worked with this World, the material known as ''Nyxium'' was the best possible thing. It was an extremely weird material which embodied the three states of being depending on how it was treated and prepared. It could be harder than metal, or could be more fluid than water and it could be more invasive than air. Obviously, there were a lot of variations in-between the three states.


    Needless to say, it was the perfect material for Evin''s golems. Even aplete beginner like Evin understood that one couldn''t make a golem out ofpletely solid materials. Being hard enough, but having enough leeway was important as well. And since Nyxium could also be gas and liquid, perhaps Evin could add in some pistons and springs that utilized Nyxium. He didn''t know where he would put it or how he would create it, but it might be useful.


    When Evin searched for ces that could produce nyxium, he was overjoyed to find that there was a workshop nearby. Evin decided to visit this ce in the future, but realized he had no idea how the golem specialist he was going to visit would take care of finances. If he could get free stuff, then it would be truly great.


    Reading about Nyxium reminded Evin of the Core Shard in his possession. Evin was almost 30 percent finished with the vial''s absorption, but he could definitely feel that the effects were lessening slowly but surely. But Evin wasn''t disheartened, since he understood that the process took time.


    ''And it''s honestly fine, since I need to digest and be used to the increase of my mana-core, anyway. I still feel like my mana-core''s recharge time can be improved substantially,'' Evin thought with anticipation. Ever since he used the Velvet Contract to increase the size of his mana-core capacity from 1 kg to 10 kg in one day, he still wasn''t quite able topletely get used to this sudden increase.


    Flipping through the book, Evin tried to find some materials that were widely used in Somaturgy as well, but the topic itself was a bit taboo, so there weren''t any mentions of it in the book.


    Content with the knowledge he just learned, Evin opened up the other book about strengthening willpower.

 Chapter 132: The doomed dream

    Chapter 132: The doomed dream


    Evin nced at the title and it only said: [The Search for Artificial World Sprites] with an unknown author. From what Evin could tell from the few pages that he read when he first got it, the book was nothing like the previous book, which was very precise and had a no-nonsense type of writing style.


    This one, on the other hand, seemed to be filled with ideas and thoughts more. Evin read through the pages with anticipation. The book first began by introducing the history of the concept:


    [The World Sprites are undoubtedly the desires of many mages that reside in this our World. The ones blessed by the World Sprites are like gods amongst men, with their unreasonably dominating spells and miracles.


    Of course, the people understand that not everyone could receive the fortune of meeting a Beast Lord that ispatible with them. Even without mentioningpatibility, most mages never find the chance to meet a Beast Lord in their entire lives. But they still wished to receive the same power and control, simr to the possessors of World Sprites.


    Thus, the great undertaking of the research of Artificial World Sprites began.


    Signs of such research appeared as early as the year 240. At this point, the World was seeing the first Beast Lords of the World. These creatures'' powers were unfathomable and infinite in their dens. Countless mages died to y these creatures, due to the fears of the rulers, which designated these powerful beings as enemies of civilized society.


    But civilization''s efforts were doomed to fail, as the Beast Lords'' strengths were below only the Authorities in their home ground. Realizing that, the countries began to search for ways to cooperate with the Beast Lords. After they learned that the Beast Lords couldn''t relocate from their dens, their hearts settled.


    The developments that happened afterwards weren''t that hard to guess. Some mages were able to assimte World Sprites and Beast Lords into their bodies and began to dominate the world of mages. Others were jealous of this fact and decided to create their own Artificial World Sprites.


    A number of mages were promised endless power and wealth to be experimental subjects for the countries. Most of them lost their World Sprites when the countries tried to extract them from their bodies. Some even lost their lives, as certain World Sprites would assimte into the blood and flesh of the mage.


    The research into Artificial World Sprites were stuck at its beginning stages, since they couldn''t quite obtain the crucial test subjects for the experiments: the World Sprites themselves.


    Only three Worlds showed some promise. The Dark World, the World of Thoughts and the World of Space. The Dark World Sprites resided in the mage''s shadows, the World of Thought Sprites created what was called an ''inner World'' in their mages and stayed there, while The World of Space Sprites resided in the World of Space, alongside the silhouettes of the mages. Note: When a mage enters a World and looks at the surrounding people, they would see silhouettes in their stead]


    Evin finished reading this page and was exhrated.


    ''This book also includes studies of World Sprites!''


    Aside from very surface level information that Evin understood from Unabach''s book and theter Northern book, Evin was still very blind about the matters of World Sprites. The two books only included information about the World Sprites and the World Cores, to pull the interests of little mages, after all.


    Evin immediately entered the World of Thoughts and started reading through the book like he was possessed.


    After he was finally finished after almost two hours, Evin went out of the World of Thoughts and began to think deeply about the book''s contents.


    ''This book is practically written for people who own World Sprites. If I didn''t own a World Sprite and read this, I would just die from jealousy,'' Evin thought with a smirk.


    Long story short, the dream of Artificial World Sprites were deemed as a hopeless cause. The biggest reason were the failed experiments, but the mages could tell that progress was being made, albeit slowly. But when the researchers finally saw some hope in this great endeavor, the Beast Lords expressed their dissatisfaction at how mages were treating their children and started to hide from the World. They could also tell that excessive contact with mages were weakening the World Sprites greatly. The ones whose positions were discovered already began to ruthlessly ughter any mage who came a step closer to their dens.


    Thus, was the end of this novel idea of Artificial World Sprites.


    But.


    There was one method that worked rtively well and surprisingly, and it was only possible for the three Worlds with physical World Sprites. By using a certain method of training, these World Sprites could develop the ability to strengthen the other Worlds! Although the effects were slightlyckingpared to their main World, it was still a great addition to one''s willpower. And the best part was, the book wasn''t stingy about these methods of cultivation. The methods on how to teach Dark World Sprites to strengthen the other Worlds were all written in the book!


    The method took a bit of time, but it wasn''tplicated or resource consuming. Evin just needed to teach them how to recognize energies of other Worlds and strengthen it and there were many ways to achieve that.


    But reading this book also created a new worry in Evin.


    [Enri, do you think the Super Mother will kill me for letting a Somaturgy expert do experiments on you all?]


    [Don''t know Probably not]


    [Don''t worry big brother! I''m sure Super Mom won''t kill you!] Runa added afterwards.


    The fox head''s answer was a bit concerning, but Evin decided to cross that bridge when it came to him. The World Sprites themselves seemed interested in the prospect, as far as Evin could tell.


    ''I have 97 World Sprites left and some of them will be needed for the Somaturgy experiment. I can''t think of unreasonable thinks like strengthening every magical World with Dark World Sprites The World of Storms is a must, the Heavy World is good as well and the World or Thoughts is a good choice as well,'' Evin decided. The current Evin was like an encyclopedia of illusions, who knew almost a thousand different illusions and their specialties. As long as he didn''t meet someone with simr training, he would be able to take care of his enemies, without them even realizing it.


    Evin first decided to teach the fifteen of them to support Storm, Heavy and Thought spells. ording to the book, if the rtion between the World Sprites and the mage is good, Evin should be finished with this task in a month. And if he was lucky, something special might happen as well.


    Evin was happy with this new discovery, but he still had the Gestures to practice. If he could program his brain and mana-core to cast spells automatically, hisbat prowess would be much higher and flexiblepared to now.


    But first and foremost, Evin had to decide on the gestures.

 Chapter 133: Authority style~

    Chapter 133: Authority style~


    ''Hmm. I could try snapping different fingers for different spells but I should also be mindful of the fact that I will need to fight with a weapon sometimes Well, I''ll first try out snapping, since it looks cooler,'' Evin thought and tried snapping each of his fingers but the only finger that made any sound was his right-hand middle finger. His ring finger and index finger would just rub the base of his thumb soundlessly.


    He tried his left hand and the result was even worse: none of them made any sound.


    ''Guess I should first practice snapping my fingers, then'' Evin smiled and practiced till his fingers were sore. He especially trained his left-hand middle finger.


    Finally, he was ready. Evin decided that when he would snap his left hand''s middle finger, the floating spell would be activated. There wasn''t much to think about more. Evin snapped his fingers and then constructed the floating spell in his head. After which, Evin would disassemble the spell and repeat the process.


    Nasst said that every mage had a different way of approaching this problem. Evin decided on the stupidest method. Endless practice.


    In the evening, Evin was so spent and disgusted from endlessly casting the same magic, he set up an rm on his magical clock and went to sleep. He had some trouble setting up the thing, since clocks on Alvox had 26 and a half hours and every one of the numbers were on disy, unlike the clocks on Earth which only had 12 numbers.


    The next morning, Evin groggily walked into the Test room. On the ground, Nasst was sitting in a lotus position and seemingly meditating. There was also a small wooden stool in front of him with a scroll ced on top of it.


    Since the elder did not show any reaction, Evin picked up the scroll and sat down. The scroll had though imprints on it, but from a cursory nce, Evin couldn''t tell what World''s spell it was. He was usually able to distinguish the different Worlds which were depicted in scrolls.


    ''I thought we were going to learn martial arts?'' Evin thought with confusion, before delving into the scroll.


    Thought imprinted scrolls were like guidebooks. Although it couldn''t cast a spell, in any useful manner at least, it could be reused quite a few times depending on the quality of the paper. Evin could tell that the papers used to make this scroll was very pricey.


    ''Either whoever made this thing is aplete wastrel, or the spell is very difficult to use'' Evin thought with dread.


    Sighing, he directed some mana to the scroll. Surprisingly, he found that the scroll described a type of martial art. Another thing that shocked him was the details and rity of the scroll, which even included some context in the beginning. It exined that certain mages preferred a martial art that was in line with the main World they used. A high-level World of Fire practitioner''s punches and kicks would be shy and flourishing like fire, while a World of Water mage would be soft like water.


    The scroll''s basic idea was to embody the Darkness in one''s martial art. And surprise, surprise, the Dark mages liked ambushes and killing moves the most. Looking through the list of moves and the general philosophy, Evin felt that it was pretty simr to Mixed Martial Arts back on Earth, but this one didn''t even bar one from attacking someone''s neck, spine or even eyes.


    The martial art''s creator seemed to drill this one idea into Evin''s head constantly: "Kill your enemy as fast and efficiently as possible!"


    Evin didn''t know how this was ''embodying the Darkness in one''s meleebat'', but he did like what he was reading. Sadly, the scroll''s contents abruptly cut off at one point, like it was locked behind something.


    ''What is this?'' Evin wondered and realized that it felt very simr to the spell that Kena put in his mind. Kena''s quest still lingered in his mind and would pop up randomly if Evin thought about it.


    [ Find St and inquire about the origins of the Horn, as well as the battle of the Fourteen Heroes ]


    Evin shook his head and looked at the silently meditating Nasst.


    ''Mood,'' Evinmented in his head and focused on practicing the martial art.


    Trying out the moves, Evin found that it really was a perfect fit for him. Simple, efficient, and very deadly. He was so absorbed in the training, that he didn''t even notice Nasst who had finished meditating next to him. After seeing Evin finish a set of moves, Nasst chimed in with augh.


    "I pulled many strings to get that scroll for you, but looking at you now, it was definitely worth it," Nasst said with a smile and nudged Evin here and there to fix his posture.


    "Howe I see such a small amount of people using these kinds of martial arts?" Evin couldn''t help but ask.


    "Seriously, you''re so ungrateful. Most mages have wet dreams about these things, you know?" Nasst shook his head exasperatedly. But instead of feeling gratitude, Evin felt fearful.


    "I don''t really understand why you''re spending so much resources on me," Evin asked warily.


    "The answer''s quite simple: Remember that not everything has to revolve around benefits and profits. But if you want an eptable answer to yourself, just think of it as me investing in you," Nasst replied like he was hurt by Evin''s attitude.


    Evin was a bit worried still, but he had made a proper Contract and everything, so he could only close his eyes and hope for the best. To bepletely honest, the treatment that Evin was receiving was very generous.


    But since Nasst said that it was an investment, Evin couldn''t help but think that Nasst wanted something from him at the end of it. Though he couldn''t think of what.


    ''Well, if it''s something I''m able to do, I should at least give it my best,'' Evin concluded. One couldn''t always receive things in society. Evin would eventually have to give back.


    "Also, why do I feel like this scroll isn''tplete?" Evin asked.


    "Oh, there are four levels in that scroll. The Thought imprint on it is quite perceptive, and it can distinguish if the reader can perform certain moves or not. It''s one of the very special types of martial arts called the Authority Styles. As you get better and better at the martial art, you will be able to see the other moves on that list. Currently, you can only see the first level, which are the fundamentals of that martial art," Nasst began exining.


    ording to the old man, at level 2 Evin would use weapons and at level 3 Evin''s attacks would start to involve some Dark spells in it. And finally at level four... well, even Nasst didn''t know much about it.


    Nasst exined that these scrolls are actually a copy of a set of moves that the Authorities bestowed upon the World. There was only one original copy of each World in Tower City, and it was possible to copy it using some rather expensive methods.


    Realizing that he was holding a small treasure on his hands, Evin sighed gratefully and diligently began to focus on the martial art.


    There really weren''t many super interesting orplicated moves in the first level as it heavily leaned towards efficiency, so Evin could only practice them endlessly, while focusing on getting his body familiar with the moves.


    Afterwards, Evin''s days became abnormally busy. In the morning, he would spend most of his time practicing martial arts. At around noon, he would spend most of his time inside his shadow, teaching the World Sprites how to recognize other World energies. In the afternoon, Evin would practice his gestures like his mind was reced by a machine. Endlessly casting one spell after snapping his fingers.


    Evin could work like this, because he was diligent in resting.


    ''Train day and night like a maniac? Are you crazy?''


    In good days, he could keep this monotonous training regime for up to 8 hours. The rest of the time, Evin would either go drink coffee at Rhea''s stall or perform some odd missions. He would also bother Arza at appropriate timings.

 Chapter 134: The struggles of the weak

    Chapter 134: The struggles of the weak


    Arelyn Borna sat silently on her bed, as a female pink-horned mage named Nona silently worked on her face. She would feel slight itches as what she presumed was mana jolting through her face. Though she did knew that with every itch, her face would change form oh so very slightly.


    At first, she didn''t have the courage to look in the mirror after the first time, but after a month of treatment, she finally saw her deformed face recover its old features. Another two weeks and it would be like the beating never happened. Truly the spells of the mages were wondrous and unfathomable. Arelyn couldn''t even imagine the costs of such treatments.


    ''All of this at my youngest sister''s expenditure, as they would unceasingly remind me,'' Arelyn thought, and beads of cold sweat started drenching her back. Even the slightest thought of her sister caused her body to shudder with fear. Butpared to her reactions a month ago, this small amount of sweat was nothing.


    Back when Arelyn was first regaining consciousness and she saw Be looking at her with a sorry face, she begged her to leave her be and started bbering and apologizing for all the times she bullied her. Obviously, the little girl was shooed away from the room by Nona, who was treating Arelyn, but it still took the crippled girl half a day of shaking and crying until she finally calmed down.


    She never saw Be again since then, but after every session the female pink-horned mage in front of her made sure to remind Arelyn that Be was remorseful of her actions and that whatever happened was an unfortunate ident. Even when Arelyn would cry and beg the mage to stop saying the name, Nona would patiently calm her down with a smile, but repeat the process the next time she came.


    At first, Arelyn didn''t understand why this woman would torment her like this, but gradually, her fear towards her sister lessened over time. Even though the thought of Be caused her to panic and sweat, she didn''t break down like she used to. But she was still sure of one thing:


    ''If I see her figure again, I''m sure I''ll go crazy''


    Trying her best to forget about her sister, she thought about herself. When she first saw her face in the mirror, only one thought filled her mind. Suicide. Arelyn despaired at the prospect of living with such a broken face. Most of her teeth were destroyed and both her eyes were ck and deformed due to swelling. Her jaw was dislocated, leaving behind a grueling sight. And not only her face, her arms and ribs were all cracked and/or fragmented.


    ''How did I manage to survive after all of that?''


    Arelyn had this thought a thousand times at this point. She was beaten like a ragdoll for three whole minutes before two guards came and knocked out Be. ording to Olevyn, at least. But to Arelyn, it felt like eternity. But thankfully, after the three minutes of hell passed, Arelyn never felt a single sting of pain; first thanks to passing out, and then thanks to the mage''s spell.


    Nona exined that she cut off her pain receptors, since the constant shocks of pain to her brains could kill her off. She also exined that this act of cutting of her pain senses were permanent and could not be reversed and that she was extremely sorry about it.


    ''What''s there to be sorry about?'' Arelyn first scoffed when she heard it, but when she had drank something hot and didn''t realize that she had burnt her tongue until Nona mentioned it, she started to see the inconveniences that this might bring about.


    As she was thinking about such random thoughts, an indescribable itch came from her face. Her two hands unconsciously reached towards her face, but both of them were firmly grasped by Nona.


    "Please resist. We''re at a very important part of the treatment," Nona said.


    Arelyn struggled to resist the urge, but thinking that it was her face, she mustered out the willpower to stay still.


    After five minutes, the itch died out and Nona finally breathed out a sigh. But soon after, her right eye started twitching unceasingly. The mage didn''t seem to quite notice it, so Arelyn realized that it wasn''t her eyelid that was twitching, it wwas probably the eye itself.


    "We''re done for today. Do you feel weird or ufortable in any way?" the mage asked in an inquiring tone. Arelyn personally knew the consequences of lying to this mage, so she truthfully told that her eyes were twitching.


    "Ah, that It''s just that the exhaustion from the treatment is affecting you. It should die out by the next morning after a good night''s rest," Nona exined and settling herself down, she continued to ask: "What do you think about your sister?"


    Arelyn hated this part of the day.


    "I don''t know... Fearful, most likely."


    "That''s natural. Do you think that you would panic and break down if you see her again?" Nona continued.


    "I believe so," Arelyn said with a shudder.


    "Hmm Well, the good news is, that treatment of your face is almostplete. We will have one more treatment session and you should look like your old self. Look at yourself in the mirror. You might find that you''ve gotten even prettier than before," Nona said with a chuckle, while holding a small mirror in her hands.


    Arelyn warily nced at the mirror, and found that the mage''s words were correct. Aside from her jaw which looked only slightly off, the rest of her face seemed to be more beautiful than before.


    "Thank you, mage Nona," Arelyn said, before realizing her mistake.


    "Don''t thank me, thank your sister. The treatment I give isn''t something so cheap. Only thanks to your sister spending all the gold in her possessions, she managed to afford my services," Nona reminded.


    "Nona, why do you do this to me?" Arelyn forgot how many times she asked this, but she couldn''t not ask. Nona would usually just dodge the question and continue regardless, which made Arelyn think that Be was paying the mage to say such things, but something in the back of her head would tell her that it was not so.


    Nona sighed slightly and relented.


    "I suppose you are ready to ept this view of mine"


    Arelyn was shocked and a bit expectant, but mostly she was still scared. But Nona didn''t wait forArelyn''s thumping heart to slow down and began talking.

 Chapter 135: The struggles of the weak, part 2

    Chapter 135: The struggles of the weak, part 2


    "I truly believe that Be was not in the wrong," the mage uttered slowly, but clearly.


    For a small moment, Arelyn''s mind nked out. Nona had always said the same thing, so obviously, Arelyn would just ignore it as the Mage being insincere. Arelyn didn''t know why this time was so different and why a deep sense of regret was washing over her heart.


    "I believe you and your middle sister was wrong in this whole incident. I''ve heard the full stories from Be, Olevyn, the guards and the servants. Hearing their stories, I''ve concluded that this beating, or at least something simr to it was going to happen at one point or another. Oh, and by full story, I really do mean the full story, with your deceased mother and also yourte stepmother," Nona said expressionlessly.


    "W-what do you mean?" Arelyn asked with a shaky voice. Even without her knowing it, Nona had be somewhat of a pir of support for her. She didn''t even mind that thetter was being paid to praise Be. But when the mage explicitly sided with her youngest sister, Arelyn felt betrayed.


    "I mean exactly what I said," Nona said and said nothing else.


    Confusion filled Arelyn''s mind.


    "But I''ve been beat half to death by that b-by that monster!" Arelyn spat out with difficulty. A teardrop materialized in the corner of her twitching eye.


    "That you have. But three minutes of suffering can''tpare to the pressure and loneliness that Be went through, no? If not, why would she lock you two up and threaten you. It''s because you pushed her to this state. And the fact that she was able to do so with the Oath inside he heart means that you two got physical with her at some point as well," Nona spoke.


    Arelyn was silent. She tried not so speak. If she did, she was sure her voice would shake and she would start crying. Usually she would be fine with crying her eyes out, but something about Nona''s words caused a storm to brew inside her. She refused to cry!


    ''What do you mean I was the cause of this?! If that woman didn''t exist and start messing up our lives, none of this would have happened in the first ce'' stubbornness appeared in her heart, grudgingly thinking about I.


    "I understand that I and your mother had a terrible history Perhaps understanding is too presumptuous of a word. I can only say that I sympathize with you. But you know that Be isn''t faulty in that ugly matter of adults," Nona continued.


    Arelyn was still silent. Of course she knew it. But knowing and feeling werepletely different things.


    Seeing the girl''s reactions, Nona''s tone of speaking softened.


    "Working with you for this past month or so, I found some matters a bit strange. Whenever your sister is mentioned, your body would feel fear, but sometimes, your eyes would show hints of relief or perhaps even thankfulness"


    "What do you mean?" Arelyn asked confusedly. Her voice getting smaller. There was also an unbelieving look to her eyes.


    "I mean that you wanted it to happen," Nona said slowly but clearly.


    "You mean to say that I wanted to get beaten like a dog!? You mean Hic, You mean to say I wanted to get my face ruined, by bones shattered my arms dislocated!?" Arelyn cried with tears streaming out her eyes. She then shouted out loud crazily: "Out! Out of here! I don''t want to see you anymore!"


    Nona sat firmly and stared back with her deep brown eyes. Arelyn saw at the pair of eyes that looked at her without a hint of judgement and wanted to die.


    "What do you want from me?! Why do you torment me so?! Why is me forgiving Be so important to you?!" she shouted and started pounding at Nona with her clenched fists. Nona took the beating silently, until Arelyn started wailing at the top of her lungs.


    The mage silently embraced the girl and let her cry it all out. Nona would usually console the girl gently during these incidents, but this time she stayed silent. Nona knew that this time it was different.


    Ten minutester, Arelyn''s sniffs died out and shefortablyid down on her bed with her pale wrist covering her eyes.


    ''I truly cried my heart out,'' she thought with some satisfaction. If she could cry like this every week, no, every month, she felt that she would maybe live a happy life.


    Calming down, she started thinking about Nona''s words. Even though they sounded extremely imusible when she first heard it, gradually, she was beginning to feel open-minded about this matter.


    "Did I truly wanted to be beaten up that badly?" Arelyn muttered softly. She then thought about the day it all happened. She remembered taunting Be until she burst. Even when the little mage''s explosion was imminent, Arelyn was still spouting malicious words like she was crazy. She even brought out the ck-haired boy, since she knew that Be liked, or at least respected the boy.


    And it wasn''t like she didn''t know the little girl''s strength, she personally witnessed her fight against the two boys.


    ''Why did I want to be beaten up so badly, then?'' she found another problem. Did she want punishment for her conducts?


    ''Or perhaps I''m just an idiot'' Arelyn always felt that her brain did work slower than others.


    Nona, noticing that the girl''s fears had disappeared, resumed speaking.


    "It seems you''ve gotten over your sister''s fears a bit"


    Arelyn''s mind nked. The mage was right. An hour ago, even the slightest thought of her sister would rile up her fears, but now she could even joke about the matter slightly.


    "Maybe I did want to get beat up" she uttered with a shaky conviction. Thinking a bit more, she asked Nona: "Why do you spend so much time on this rtionship between me and my sister?"


    Nona smiled and started exining.


    "You may think I''m boasting a bit, but I''m quite an aplished Healer in this World. Obviously, I would have to bow down to the Easterners who are naturally good at it, but I can confidently say that I''m not without achievements... At any rate, after I received this Pink Horn from the Ancestor, my dearest wish was to create a world where no one would suffer" Nona said wistfully.


    "Well, after you get older, you start to realize that such convictions are a bit imusible to achieve. But still, I couldn''t just give up, so I started to travel the Countries in search of people in need. But after traveling for a bit, I realized that just healing someone''s physical wounds aren''t enough. Even if they have no more pain, there are still the countless emotional and psychological problems they have to face, which are not less scary than the physical ones"


    Arelyn listened silently.


    "Honestly, I don''t know how those mages and soldiers who constantly get injured on the battlefield can keep on going with their lives like nothing ever happened. Imagine getting beat up like you did every two weeks. I''d rather spend my life as a pittrine cleaner," Nona said with a smallugh.


    "Anyway, cowardly people like us, we need time to forget the trauma and emotions thate after an injury that was caused by others. The weakness, the helplessness, and the hatred. So many times I''ve seen the men and women I healed break down from the trauma and be unable to live life normally. There were even some who chose death," Nona said weakly and then looked at Arelyn with a deep, prating gaze.


    "I know you''ve thought of dying when you first saw your destroyed face. Don''t feel weird about it, everyone does. Especially the girls who had their face messed up, or the ones who were raped and beaten. Aside from healing their bodies, I try my best to dissipate these hidden dangers"

 Chapter 136: Ayn, Lyn and Vyn

    Chapter 136: Ayn, Lyn and Vyn


    "In your case, it was rtively simple. You don''t truly hate your sister, you just hate her mother. And maybe you feel jealous of her talents and her birth as a mage. But in the deepest parts of your heart, you wanted to repent for your actions. I just needed to make you understand that"


    "After you mother died, you could only vent your anger on Beyn. After a while, you start feeling bad for your actions. But since you only ever acted malevolently against her, you found yourself unable to act any different. Hence this current situation," Nona exined.


    Listening to the reasonings, Arelyn nodded lightly.


    "As for Be, I didn''t lie when I said that she was deeply sorry. She found me when I was staying in one of the hospitals and offered me all the gold in her possession, so I could fix you somehow. When I asked her about what happened afterwards, she couldn''t exin herself. After a few days of pondering, she said that she wanted you two to leave her alone. She just wanted to scare you a bit, but hearing the words that came out of your mouth, she lost her wits," Nona said while hiding a slight grimace.


    But after talking to the little mage, Nona could see that Be was lying. The naked truth was, that Beyn didn''t feel much for her sisters but for whatever reason, her efforts to heal her and repent was sincere. Most likely, Be would prefer to reset her rtionship with her two sisters and then forget about each other. ''How admirably adult,'' Nona would love to think, but she really didn''t have the mood to think like that.


    Nona then instructed Be to apologize to each other, but make it very clear that they have nothing to do with each other anymore. Be seemed happy with this arrangement as well. This way, there wouldn''t be any unneeded hope and even if the some problem emerges in the future, Arelyn''s trauma would have died out by then.


    ''This is the best I can do in this situation,'' Nonaforted herself.


    "I can confidently say that you won''t react extremely when you see your sister now. But still, your body remembers the pain it felt under your sister''s hands. You will feel nervous when she''s close by and you will flinch if Be moves suddenly. This will all die out over time," Nona said. Hearing these words, Arelyn could guess at what might happen soon.


    "When will I be seeing Be again?" Arelyn couldn''t help but notice the conviction in her voice.


    "Soon. When I''m done fixing your jaw three dayster, I will let you two meet," Nona said.


    Another month had passed and Evin''s peaceful days continued. But even though his days were peaceful, Evin realized that he severely underestimated spell gestures.


    In a wide master bedroom, Evin silently pondered a question that had taken over his mind these past few days.


    Evin''s time required to cast the floating spell had decreased form 15 seconds to almost 10 seconds for the first month, but it was mostly because of how much Evin was practicing this spell and also due to his newly trained batch of World Sprites which could strengthen three new Worlds now.


    Also, a very peculiar thing happened to those 15 World Sprites. Five of them merged and became three bigger World Sprites that glowed slightly in the color of their respective Worlds. Evin named them Lyn, Ayn and Vyn. Lyn for the World of Storms, Ayn for the World of Thoughts and Vyn for the Heavy World.


    But weirdly, these three didn''t show that high level of an intelligence, even though they looked very humanoid-like. Their thought process was a level below their big sister, and the big sister in question still couldn''t wrap her cute little (most of the time) fox head around the concept of not calling Evin ''Mother''.


    But to their defense, their ability to support Evin''s magic was practically wless. It was so good that Evin wondered how he was able to cast magic without them in the first ce. Thanks to them, Evin was finally able to cast actually lethal Air needles and air punches. But Rith reminded him that most mages had a defensive methods to save their eyes and other vitals, so in the end, the heavier the attack, the better it was.


    Obviously, if Evin had to fight a group of non-mages, then the Air needles were very, very deadly.


    Evin was also trying out many different methods to strengthen his spells. Most of them were things that he tried out previously: like better imagination, stronger willpower, other various tricks, etc. The one that showed most promise was a method to apply World energies to spells, even as they''re flying away from you.


    For example, instead of constructing a spell, just throwing it at an enemy and forgetting about it, Evin would constantly will it to be faster and stronger as it flew.


    Ayn, Lyn and Vyn were very good at helping with these kinds of misceneous things. Their help was also crucial in helping Evin reduce the 15 seconds to 10 seconds in this previous month. But Evin still faced a huge problem concerning the gestures.


    ''At least I can kind of automatically cast it after I snap my fingers'' Evin thought unconfidently. After Evin snapped his fingers, his mind would definitely attempt to construct theplex spell, but most of the time it would fumble into nothingness. The boy realized that his mind wasn''t able to perform the required task when Evin''s state of mind and body were different from how he usually practiced.


    For example, the failure rates were extremely high when Evin was either lying down or in a rxed state. And at first, the whole process was awkward as hell too. Most of the time, Evin would be trying to fool himself into thinking that he wasn''t going to snap his fingers, so he could snap his fingers without being prepared.


    Evin solved this problem by shoving the trigger to Rith. The n was that the Cosmic would randomly attack the boy with a dy, where his only path of surviving was floating. Thanks to these moments, Evin''s progress increased greatly, but he couldn''t quite reach that speed that subconscious casting was supposed to give him.


    At this point, Evin realized that he needed a different approach. Nasst had instructed him to focus on casting spells subconsciously, so Evin approached the matter with trained automation in mind, but obviously, it wasn''t working that well.

 Chapter 137: Success

    Chapter 137: Sess


    So Evin''s new n was more about rity and focus. He started treating this issue as a psychological barrier of some sorts.


    ''What do I want to achieve with spell gestures?'' Evin would ask himself and write his answers on a piece paper withrge, bold fonts. Just knowing about one''s goals sometimes didn''t quite cut it, but the next best thing was to try writing it down on paper and then write out possible solutions.


    The human brain was pitifully easy to delude and motivate. Just by putting something down on paper would make it feel like it achieved something great, making it more motivated to finish a task. Especially for a vague task like this.


    If it was a moreplex task and Evin knew exactly what he was going to do, then this move wouldn''t really do much to motivate him.


    For example, imagine yourself working as an architect and you just got a job for a two-story house in the suburbs. And after wrestling with the problem a bit, you finish drawing the draft on a nice, clean, white paper. It''s nothing too special, a simple drawing of a house with some wacky looking roofs. Altogether, it all looks quite nice to the eyes.


    This will motivate you, slightly, yes. But deep down inside your head, you know you have a mountain of tasks that you need to finish. Exporting your nice little drawing to a proper program or a paper, preparing a presentation for your clients, consulting engineers who for some reason really hate you, double-checking whether you''re breaking some kind ofw or not, making sure your project doesn''t cost 2 million dors for whatever reason, arguing with the construction crew, all that good stuff.


    But for something super vague like this this "subconsciously casting magic after snapping your fingers magically"  a simple bullet list would do the trick.


    After looking through the possible solutions he could take, Evin finally settled on concentrating very deeply on the process, in hopes of seeing, or feeling something different.


    ''Okay, I''m ready,'' Evin thought at he put the paper down and nodded at Rith.


    "You ready?" the Cosmic asked with a smile and Evin nodded.


    "After she attacks me, I need to snap my fingers and then focus on flying. Okay! Snap and then float. Snap and then float," Evin started chanting under his breath and hyping himself up.


    Patiently, he awaited the attack. Rith looked at him peacefully, no trace of intent apparent from her eyes.


    ''Come on, hurry up'' Evin grumbled in his head, but then he suddenly felt danger around his feet.


    Instantly, he snapped his fingers and an imaginary jolt of electricity ran from his fingers to his brain. Like a horse that got whipped, his brain cells were jolted awake and hurriedly began constructing the spell from its base. But this time, Evin felt something different, like he just got into the zone, or something.


    Evin didn''t try to lose his focus like he used to before, but observed the process like a bystander inside his head. It was a very weird experience, like his consciousness had split into two, and one was looking at the other. At this point, he didn''t care about the seconds and the impending danger, he instead witnessed how his mind began to visualize himself weightlessly bouncing from the ground, with a number of invisible air throttles appearing from below his body.


    This 3D-model-like image appeared before his eyes and then, like suction pipe, his mind began to greedily draw World energies from the Channeling artifact and constructing it in such a way that it filled the imaginary model in his head.


    And just like that, Evin was floating in the air with countless tiny portals swimming under his body. If Evin was a bit slower, the portals would rip at his skin one by one, bringing him endless pain and torture. Evin knew that Rith wouldn''t kill him, but who wanted to be cut into pieces by those portals?


    Evin looked at the Cosmic in question and saw her looking back with a slight smile.


    "7 and a half seconds. Not bad, considering that your personal best was a bit more than 10 seconds yesterday," Rithplimented with some admiration.


    "I can cut it down even more," Evin said, trying not to forget this feeling in his head. If Evin''s brain would fill the image with World energies as it was being constructed, he could save even more time on this process.


    "How did you manage it?" Rith asked curiously. She had struggled greatly with the problem of gestures in her past.


    "I''m not quite sure. When I snapped my fingers and tried focusing on the process, I could somehow ''see'' my subconscious, or whatever it was, building the spell from scratch. It was using a kind of real-life model which depicted the spell''s effects on my body and applying World energies to relevant parts," Evin exined clumsily.


    Evin also realized that his endless training method was giving its fruits, since if Evin tried this method from the beginning, it wouldn''t be any different from normally casting it. But thanks to this past month''s training, Evin''s brain learned to perform the spell automatically, albeit a bit slowly. Evin could only observe the process from the sidelines since his mind was able to work automatically like that.


    "I think that''s pretty impressive, to be honest. Most opt to plow through muddle-headedly with the previous method that you used. But I''ve heard some stories about World of Thought magespletely restructuring their minds to be the perfect spell casting machine. I seriously can''t imagine how one would go about doing that" Rith murmured softly.


    "What?" Evin asked.


    "Well, I really don''t know much about it. I only heard some stories," Rith waved her paws cutely.


    "Please tell me, it might be useful for me," Evin insisted.


    "Well, I heard that some people set up their brains in such a way that it constantly has a spell ready, like literally at all times. And supposedly, they have a lot of trouble functioning in society, as they were prone to randomly casting their spells, since it''s very likely that they''ve triggered their gestures somehow. This is why, most mages prefer to have very specific gestures," Rith finished exining.


    Evin nodded thoughtfully at this.


    "Then I guess my gestures can''t be super obvious, but they also can''t be too general" he muttered. After trying out the snaps, Evin realized that they were a bit too obvious. If he kept on using different snaps or different things, in a real fight, he would be like a video game boss, who very politely indicated to the enemy exactly what kind of move he was going to do next.


    After a while, he decided to worry about it after he was finished with the floating spell. As he was training and thinking about more low-key gestures for his other spells, his mind suddenly thought of a very daring idea.

 Chapter 138: Arza

    Chapter 138: Arza


    In one of the battle arenas of the Ekhri Tribe, Arza stood with his fists clenched tightly. The energy from the World of Life ran throughout his body, invigorating and strengthening it beyond normal human capacities. If one could see inside his body, they would be able to witness tiny pink sparks of lightning going off through his muscles periodically.


    In front of him stood a boy who was half a head shorter than him, slouching, panting heavily with his hands, while holding his stomach. His long ck hair which was usually wrapped up in a short ponytail, was now drooping down to his shoulder, drenched with the boy''s sweat. Although it looked like the boy in front of him was considerably smallerpared to him, in the Tribe Grounds, the boy was considered a giant. It was Arza who was unreasonably enormous.


    Two months ago, when he first came to the Tribe, he was almost as big as a normal nine-year-old, but after he started absorbing the World of Life shard into his body, his growth began to rocket and now he was even bigger than some 10-year-olds.


    Arza nced at the crowd and saw them all whispering to each other with worried eyes.


    ''Why do they have to care about this so much?'' Arzamented in his head.


    "This "Friend" of yours is a murderer and we both know it! Why do you have to defend him like this?" the other boy asked through his gritted teeth.


    "Evin isn''t a murderer! You understand nothing, Er! Why do you need to nder someone who doesn''t concern you?" Arza bellowed loudly, his naked emotions seeping through his tone of voice.


    [Calm down, child!] Karan''s voice came from a sword on his hips, but Arza ignored it.


    "Then what is he, if he''s not a murderer? Isn''t he just a disgusting old man who refused to die and now pretends to be a child? Do you really think he considers you as his friend? At most he feels he''s indebted to your father and apanies you, or at worst he thinks you''re a nuisance!" Er shouted spitefully.


    Arza fell silent at those words. He regretted talking about Evin and his past to these children. He first thought it would help the children get over their fear and wariness of Evin, but for some reason, they became even more hostile towards him. Nowadays, every child would make it their life sworn duty to point out Evin''s ws to Arza. After ignoring such nder to his best capabilities, Arza''s mind was finally giving into the pressure.


    ''What is he, really?'' Arza couldn''t help but think when he heard these kinds of questions.


    Unknowingly and almost instinctively, his mind entered the World of Thought. Arza savored the familiar, yet addicting feeling of time slowing down just for him and the moment when the clouds in his head cleared up and he felt like he could solve any problem that he faced. Er, who he was facing turned to a featureless silhouette, like every other child and adult that watched this one-sided fight.


    Such moments would happen asionally throughout the day, and Arza knew that it was reaching dangerous levels fast. Just yesterday, he spent almost three hours in the World of Thoughts thinking. And every time, he would be thinking of some sort of topic on his mind. This time, he thought about Evin.


    From the moment his childish consciousness formed, Arza knew instinctively that Evin was different from others.


    Unlike Evin who holed up in his house all day, Arza was one of the more popr kids in town. Ever since he was three, there would always be an entourage of children following behind him. He happily yed around with them, and it always felt right when he was surrounded by attention. All these children seemed different from a nce, but most of them were fundamentally simr in their conducts since they were still children who had just learned how to walk and talk. Among them, Arza was like their biggest brother, since he was naturally much smarter than most of them. Moreover, he was also much more talented than them, so he had developed a sort of superiorityplex at that time.


    But his rare meetings with Evin would always remind him that he was a dumb little child. Evin knew so many things about everything, without ever taking a step outside his little test room. Even when he was forced to apany the group of children to babysit them, Evin would most of the time opt to chat with the Cosmic beside him, rather than ying around with the children.


    For some reason, this pissed off Arza greatly and he challenged Evin to a battle. Arza still remembered his first fight with the other. He bravely charged at the smaller boy with the intention to hold him on the ground and teaching him a little lesson, but without even realizing how, he would find himself sprawled on the ground. He spat out the dirt and charged again and again, but the oue was the same no matter what.


    And the worst part was, Arza could never understand how he would find himself on the ground every time. One second he would be running towards the boy, and in the next moment, he would be lying on the ground. Later he learned from his father that he most likely fell under the other''s illusions. Arza didn''t quite understand the concept, before his father demonstrated and exined it to him.


    ''Petty trickery,'' he thought at the time and didn''t think much of it and continued to challenge Evin every day. But unfortunately, reality was that he would fall prey under the same trick every time. Eventually, Evin made him promise that he could only challenge him once every two days if he lost a fight where Evin wouldn''t use any illusions.


    Arza was very excited and agreed on the spot. In this fight, he realized why he would find himself on the floor every time. As he charged at Evin, his hands would be pulled over Evin''s body and with it, his whole body would follow behind and fall onto the ground. Very simple.


    Arza was in love with this move. He asked if Evin would teach it to him and thetter shoved him off to his grandpa. The two then started to learn some martial arts under Ssatsko''s guidance. From that point on, Arza stopped hanging out with the other kids and exclusively spent his time in Evin''s house.


    He also started to learn more about magic, since Evin was much more likely to talk about the topic, unlike his father who always found an excuse to not talk too deeply about the subject. Arza then also found out about two of his most talented Worlds.


    His father told him that the reason why he''s good at the World of Life and the Luminous World was because he liked having lots of friends and he was also more active than most others. And he also told him that he shouldn''t bother with the Dark world and the World of Space, since his talents would be abysmal at them.


    Out of stubbornness, Arza attempted to use those two Worlds specifically, but the World of Space was a mystery to most mages, without even mentioning how hard it was for a three-year-old like Arza, and the Dark World just seemed much too distant and weird to Arza.


    Realizing that, he began to focus on the two Worlds exclusively. His father also encouraged this and told him that the less Worlds he practiced the better. But after a certain incident, his enthusiasm towards one of the Worlds died outpletely.

 Chapter 139: Hero

    Chapter 139: Hero


    Arza still couldn''t remember exactly what happened after he was pulled out from Evin''s shadow the day that their group was attacked by those weird four mages. He knew something terrible must have happened, since he could remember Ssatsko tightly gripping his eyes. He also remembered how his curiosity got the better of him and he looked behind Ssatsko''s hands anyway.


    Unfortunately, or fortunately, Arza couldn''t remember anything beyond that point. He could only associate the feelings of fear and disgust with those blurry memories. He also knew somehow, that whatever he saw, it was done by a Luminous spell. His affinity with the spell did not let him think otherwise.


    There was also one thing that was crystal clear in his head. Evin had protected him from harm at the cost of his body. Arza also knew that the price was steep, since Kena had seemed to have called the Authority of Life to fix Evin. Everyone else seemed to shrug the matter off their heads for whatever reason, or if they were all just trying to forget about it all But it was too big of a shock to Arza.


    He felt like he was a joke for saying things like he would fight for justice and protect his family and friends. How was he going to protect anyone if he was going to get knocked out in the first sh of the battle? On the other hand, Evin managed to kill the woman who almost killed him and then best another mage in solobat. Afterwards, he broke the Space barrier around the area and also survived the spell of a lesser-imposer long enough for Kena to arrive to his rescue.


    Arza learned these thing by questioning Karan. Ssatsko and Rith stubbornly refused to talk about the matter and only the skinshifter decided that Arza should know of these matters. Perhaps he said these things, since Arza''s mental age had be close to a 10-year-old. Karan himself was abducted at around that age, and even before that, he was an orphan in Tower City, so the man didn''t quite feel the need to hide the child from such violent scenes.


    But even Karan did not dare talk about what the lesser-imposer did to Evin. The skinshifter mentioned how he found it almost unbelievable that Evin could stay sane and functional after that.


    A teardrop materialized in Arza''s eyes uncontrobly Noticing it, the boy hurriedly wiped it with his sleeves. His father always told him that men do not cry, so every time, he would force down the emotions down his throat. Arza didn''t know why, but he would randomly feel like tearing up.


    ''What do the teardrops mean?'' Arza thought. He remembered asking his father how to not cry, and thetter reminded him to be careful in the following situations: when something sad happens, when something happy happens, and when he feels proud of something.


    ''I don''t feel sad when I think of Evin, I don''t feel overly happy when I see him. So, I must feel proud of him,'' Arza thought clumsily.


    His mind then seemed to clear up unexpectedly due to this idea and Arza thought spiritedly:


    ''Why am I even thinking so hard about these things?''


    Slowly, Arza exited the World of Thoughts and his gaze fell upon the boy, who red at him with a mixture of confusion and concern.


    ''What is Evin?'' Arza thought again, his mind now refocused and sharp.


    "He''s my hero," Arza said resolutely. Arza didn''t care that Evin was a liar, he didn''t care that Evin could be an adult in a child''s body. Evin saved his life and that was all that mattered to Arza.


    The boy in front looked at him like he was going to choke.


    "I can''t ept it. You''re my friend and I have a duty to make sure you don''t follow the footsteps of viins and murderers!" Er said and started bringing scrolls and artifacts from his storage ring.


    Arza could guess what the boy wanted to do. A multipart spell. Impossibly powerful spells that could change the oues of full-scale battles, not to mention simple duels like this one. Since most children in the Tribe Grounds were too young, and unable to focus on too many things at once, a multipart spell was practically impossible to cast here, except of course, if one decided to make up for theirck of ability with scrolls and artifacts.


    Usually, the best method to deal with such spells was to knock out the caster before they manage to finish constructing the spell. But Arza had no intention of interrupting Er. He knew that the boy''s attack wouldn''t be a weak one, but Arza needed to prove a point. He shouted his favorite advice from his father:


    "In the end, whoever with the stronger fist is right!"


    Arza began to absorb Life energy at an rming pace, and in a few seconds, his half-mana-core heart was filled to the brim. Arza could feel his heart pumping pure energy alongside his blood throughout his body and the random small sparks increased in intensity and volume.


    The crowd seemed to expect Arza to dash at Er and knock him out, but Arza only stood on his spot without moving. The crowd began to specte about Arza''s thoughts, before one of the children shouted that Arza was going to receive the attack without moving! A loudmotion erupted suddenly.


    "Run away!"


    "Hit him quickly!"


    "What are you doing?"


    Childish shouts entered Arza''s mind, but he didn''t move. He didn''t need to.


    A minuteter, Er was done with his spell and took on a pale blue hue that radiated over Chameleon skin''s concealment. Twenty giant pirs of ice, which had the runes for Containment, Anti-heat and Expanding depicted all over its frame, took form in the air. The giant pirs were taller than most adults and revolved imposingly around the caster. Er, the one who created the spell began to wonder if he was going overboard and nced at Arza with some hesitation. The crowd gasped with worry and surprise.


    "Show me what you got! Come on!" Arza shouted tauntingly with his arms wide open. It was an impressive spell, for sure, but quite useless inbat. Evin would definitely never use these inefficient spells. It was much easier and faster to just punch someone with one''s fists.


    Er grunted angrily at the stubborn boy and directed the pirs of ice towards Arza. The pirs circled the red-haired boy in a rather slow and cautious pace before gradually closing in on him.


    Arza could''ve jumped out of the spell at any point, but he simply waited for his opponent to finish. Somehow, looking at these pirs which circled him warily like they were afraid of something, Arza just couldn''t get himself to act seriously.


    ''Evin would''ve killed this idiot a hundred times at this point,''

 Chapter 140: Domineering

    Chapter 140: Domineering


    Arza couldn''t help but think disappointedly. He had hyped himself up greatly, but his opponent was still acting like a coward. Inevitably, his hands started itching for a spar with Evin again. They hadn''t fought at all for the past two months, since both were busy with their own things.


    Arza learned a lot in the academy sses, but the level of information that he learned was simply too low level to matter. On the other hand, Evin was progressing at a rapid pace. Arza didn''t know what the other was studying exactly, but it surely wasn''t the same as listening to an old instructor drone on endlessly about random runes and their effects.


    As Arza was thinking of such idle things, the pirs of ice finally came surrounded him tightly from all sides.


    "Finally," Arza murmured.


    "You brought this upon yourself! Frozen Prison!" Er screamed and the Expansion runes on the pirs lighted up. The twenty pirs of ice began to rapidly erge and in no time, Arza was encased on all sides by cold ice. After it finished expanding, the containment runes began to light up one after another and Arza felt the pressure on him bing stronger by the second. In the eyes of the crowd, the huge frozen prison had be almost twice as bigpared to before. An eerie silence filled the arena.


    Inside the Prison, Arza was reminded of the time he fought Be and how he lost because he was trapped in ice. Compared to that small ice box, this multipart spell that caught him was a few dozen times stronger.


    ''But so what?'' Arza thought without care. He got his mind and body excited and his muscles began pulsating and bulging, Life energy flooding through his bones and flesh. A hint of fire shed through his skin as well, but after melting a miniscule amount of the ice, it would die out due to the Anti-heat properties of the Frozen Prison. But having that tiny piece of the ice melted was enough for Arza to struggle out of the prison!


    "So what of this is ten times stronger than that spell? Compared to that time, I''m twenty times stronger!"


    A fervent roar exploded loudly from inside the case, followed by a shattering sound. Then, a huge rumble came from inside the ice and the sound of two giant pieces of ice rubbing on each other grated the ears of the crowd. But the fuss inside the prison hadn''t died out yet, as sounds of banging, apanied by the excitedugh of a child came from inside the prison of ice.


    Bang!


    The grating of ice became louder and louder before it finally exploded into countless tiny specks of ice under everyone''s astonished expressions.


    A glowing pink figure darted out from the mist and ice dust and appeared in front of Er in the blink of an eye.


    A loud thud resounded in the arena, which was then followed by a crash.


    Arza stood where Er stood a moment ago, panting and satisfied. Then, he roared happily under the concerned cheers of the crowd.


    He then eyed Er whose body wouldn''t fall from the arena barrier, like he was stered onto it. All the emotion and pride vanished from Arza''s heart when he saw the unmoving figure of the ck-haired boy in front of him. For some reason, an image of Er melting into the barrier appeared in Arza''s mind.


    ''Shit, what did I do?'' Arza panicked and ran to check up on the boy. He worriedly looked at the boy''s body, expecting the worst.


    But thankfully, Er seemed fine, since there was a sorbothium chest-te protecting the boy''s chest and back. The bottom edge of the armor piece got caught in the flexible barrier somehow, which was the reason he was stuck on it.


    Arza pulled him out of the thing, started applying first aid like he was taught by the teachers, and asked for someone call a Healer. Surprisingly, Koya came from the crowd and helped Er get conscious. Rantz was behind her sister''s back, curiously looking over her shoulders.


    "That''s a surprising disy of strength," the usually silent ck-clothed girlmented.


    "Yeah, I don''t know why, but Evin and you always seem to overdo it," Rantz said with an awkward smile. Arza was surprised she would joke about <em>that</em> topic, but he didn''t think he shouldment on it.


    "I got heated up for some reason in the fight. Also, I''ve realized that I have trouble holding back, since I''ve sparred with Evin for practically two years," Arza exined and sat the muddled Er up into a morefortable position. He then nced through his body to see if there was something either broken or damaged.


    "Speaking of that guy, hasn''t he been staying in that mansion for half a month at least? He isn''t evening out to take on missions. There are suddenly so many half-cores in the Tribe Grounds who suddenly came for the Horn Ceremony. Even if they''re all weaklings like this guy here, he wouldn''t be able to buy that Dark Spell if he keeps this up," Koya said as she channeled Life energy through Er''s body and nodded faintly.


    "Who knows what he''s doing there He''s either really focused on something, or he''s ying around with Rith," Arza said and thought about the two.


    "Rith is the Cosmic, right? I''m so jealous of him for having a Cosmicpanion. I asked my father about them and he told me that there were only about a thousand people in the entire world who received a private tutor from the Cosmics," Rantz chimed in and silently walked closer to keep the swaying Er in ce.


    "I''m pretty sure they''d rather die than be separated... even without the whole tutge thing," Arza scoffed.


    [That''s true,] Karanmented.


    [Oh, Karan, I''m really sorry for ignoring you back then,] Arza apologized.


    [Don''t worry about it. I do think that I nag a bit too much, so it''s inevitable that you would ignore me sometimes,] the skinshifter said.


    ''If you know it, then don''t be like that!'' Arzained in his head.


    The three chatted randomly as they waited for a nurse toe and take Er to the infirmary.


    But as they were talking, Bardom came running to the arena with Evin in tow. Evin looked around the arena and was semingly surprised by the amount of ice that was scattered around. His eyes fell on Arza and the barely conscious Er. He then looked around and his eyes seemed to notice something as an amused smirk appeared on his mouth. As Arza was about to look at where Evin''s eyes fell, the ck-haired boy suddenly joked.


    "I thought I reminded you to not punch someone who disagreed with you"


    "Why did youe here?" Arza asked.

 Chapter 141: Weird Evin

    Chapter 141: Weird Evin


    "Well, Bardom ran to me and said that you were going to kill a kid because of me. What was I supposed to do? And looking at the situation, I can say that you almost managed to aplish it," Evinughed and brought out some sort of potion from his storage ring.


    "He should be fine after some rest, don''t waste your potion," Koya said.


    "Oh, no, I wanted to try its effects. Apparently, it''s pretty effective at waking up someone who''s unconscious. Don''t mind me," Evin said and had Er drink the potion.


    Arza could see the surrounding people and children assuming scorning expressions at the boy''s remark, but the boy-in-question''s mind did not seem to register these hostile res. The potion took effect almost immediately, as Er''s clouded eyes cleared up immediately and he began to cough and gag violently.


    "What did you feed me?" Er managed to utter and began vomitting the contents of the sk on the ground. Everyone took a step back from the nauseating scene, as a riling stench came from the liquid on the ground.


    "Well, that''s one way to wake someone up, though I''m not sure if I want to consume that by my own free will," Evin made a disgusted face and covered his nose with his sleeve and took on a slightly transparent hue and the smell disappeared immediately.


    "Tsk, that damn old Cobfolk scammed me. If I wanted to clear my head like this, I would rather keep a Chameleon skin ready"


    [What''s his problem, today?] Karan said suddenly.


    Arza also felt like Evin was acting a bit differently than usual, but he couldn''t quite tell why.


    "So, what happened?" Evin asked Arza.


    "He called you a murderer, and we got into a fight. I got a bit excited in the process and punched him a bit too hard," Arza exined, slightly guiltily.


    "Well, you should know I don''t want you to beat up someone over calling me a murderer. Especially since the boy''s right," Evin shrugged.


    "He also told me to cut off all rtions with you and dere it to everyone I know as well"


    "Just politely refuse"


    "I did, but he took the task upon himself and made up some story in my name, so I had to beat him up," Arza shrugged. Evinughed loudly at that and thenmented.


    "Well, at that point he was just begging to get beat. I suddenly don''t feel so bad about giving him that potion"


    The boy in question red at Evin viciously and groaned out in a guttural voice:


    "You goddamn murderer! Don''t pretend like you can feel bad for others!"


    Arza looked at Evin to see how he reacted, but instead of looking like he was used of being a murderer, Evin just looked like some said the weather was nice.


    "That was aplete ident. I had just finished a life and death battle the previous day and might''ve expected too much from a kindergarten teacher. Though, if you were associated with him in some way or another, I do apologize," Evin answered. His apology in the end sounded sincere, but one couldn''t help but distinguish the forced emotions that was added into the mix.


    "If you want to say you''re sorry, then at least pretend to be so!"


    Evin sighed lightly at these words.


    "Although I do feel sorry, it doesn''t mean that I should act like I truly care about the man every moment of the day. That''s just insulting to instructor Zakhlo, since it wasn''t like we knew each other that deeply, anyway. You can''t expect me to care about a stranger as much as I would about my close ones. I understand that you want to see me get punished, but circumstances dictated that I was more important free, rather than locked up in some ce where they keep child criminals? What kind of ce would that be?" Evin muttered out thest part under his breath and his mind seemed to go off on a tangent.


    Arza heard these words and was reminded of when Evin was talking to him about social justice. About how rich or influential people should be punished the same way as a normal person and that anyone exempt from it should just die. But thinking about the situation that unfolded, how Evinmitted a crime and was left untouched because of his association with Kena, Arza couldn''t help but think that Evin dered his own death sentence.


    ''But what happened really was an ident'' Arza then thought confusedly.


    "Anyway, please don''t nder my name," Evin concluded after thinking for some time.


    ''I thought you didn''t mind getting called a murderer,'' Arza pondered about how Evin came to a different decision so suddenly. Arza''s mind raced and he unknowingly found himself in the World of Thoughts again.


    ''Always saying one thing and doing the other. Or saying something and then immediately going back on his words'' Arza mumbled in his head.


    ''Why did I call him my hero? So embarrassing. What''s his problem, anyway?''


    After another session of pondering, Arza concluded that Evin simply didn''t care about it at all. The words of others didn''t sway his thoughts at all, especially the words of a group of children. They could call him any name they wanted to and it would just bounce off his skin like it was made of rubber.


    Arza sighed and exited the World. Watching as the silhouettes bing more featured and detailed, he subtly nced at Evin. To his surprise, he found the boy staring right back at him.


    "How much time do you spend inside the World in a day?" Evin asked.


    "I don''t know, maybe one or two hours?" Arza answered softly.


    "Is that so? Hmm. You''re quite a terrible liar, you know that, right?" Evin said with a smirk.


    "What are you talking about? I don''t lie," Arza answered in a passive aggressive way. Arza felt that it was wrong for Evin to get involved into his matters. Especially since thetter usually advocated a non-inclusive approach to anything that concerned himself.


    "Why are you getting so defensive? I''m just worried about you. One or two hours is fine, but more than that, you''ll end up even more of an idiot in the main world. And weren''t you always so proud about never lying, like three months ago? What made you change your mind so suddenly?" Evin snorted. Something about Evin''s words riled Arza up greatly.


    "What right do you have to say that?!" Arza snapped. He felt it wasughable that Evin even had the idea about lecturing him about lying.


    "Heh, why do I need a right to say anything?" Evin replied shamelessly and shook his head.


    Arza couldn''t believe the other''s gall and when he looked around at everyone, the rest seemed to agree as well. Now that he took a good look, literally everyone seemed at odds with the boy. Feeling confident, Arza dered:


    "I want to spar with you"


    Evin smirked evilly.


    "Why bother? We both know you won''t win"


    "We haven''t fought since we came here and I''ve be much stronger than before," Arza said, slightly smug.


    Evin sighed in an exaggerated way, and shook his head, like he was thinking: ''What am I supposed to do with you?''


    "Fine, we can go for a round or two. I just created a somewhat special spell anyway," Evin agreed.


    The crowd of children around Arza began to cheer for him, and encouraged him to beat up Evin ck and blue. Only Koya, Rantza and Bardom had a worried expression.


    In a few minutes, the crowd cleared the ice riddled arena and it looked ready for use. The barrier that was almost smashed down by Arza also looked spotless and sturdy.


    Evin stood on one side of the arena, dutifully warming his body up.

 Chapter 142: The fights start

    Chapter 142: The fight''s start


    "Weapons?" he then asked. Arza was slightly surprised that the subject was brought up. Evin would usually always use weapons, since it was a surefire way to force Arza to surrender. The two had an agreement that having their heart or throat threatened was an automatic loss.


    ''Does he have something else in store?'' Arza pondered. He knew to be careful of his suffocation spell and his shadows. But Arza wasn''t that scared of Evin''s shadow, as he had prepared something special to counter it and he was very excited to try it in real battle. After countless hours of training, he finally had a response to Evin''s Dark Room.


    But from the way Evin was acting, there was definitely something new in his arsenal.


    ''Judging from how his other spells work, it''s probably super annoying like Karan''s nagging,'' Arza grimaced and then realized: ''Wait, he was showing me that book of illusions. It must be a World of Thoughts spell!''


    "No weapons and no illusions," Arza dered and wondered how Evin would react. To his surprise, Evin didn''t seem to mind too much, and casually nodded.


    "Swear it on your Oath," Arza demanded. Experience told him that trusting Evin was not something that he should do. Evin chuckled at the demand and recited loudly.


    "I, Eviendra of Smallwall town, vow in the names of my Oaths to not use any kind of illusions in the following fight"


    Arza was bbergasted.


    ''What kind of spell did he create?'' he wondered anxiously. The other''splete confidence scared Arza greatly. But he also realized that this was a chance. A chance to fight Evin on his own terms!


    "Win and Loss is decided by knockout!" he dered loudly. If he could turn this fight into a test of stamina, then his chances of winning would be much biggerpared to before.


    "That, or voluntarily," Evin answered smilingly.


    ''Is that really Evin?'' Arza couldn''t help but wonder.


    ''Urgh, I hate growing up! If it was three months ago, I would''ve just dashed at him without even thinking much! Now I have to worry about every little thing like a goddamn coward. Let''s just get this over with,'' he decided.


    "Are you ready?" Evin asked as he assumed a weirdly formal, yet casual martial stance.


    Arza nodded resolutely. All his hesitation and worry was tucked away nicely into a little corner in his mind. He then absorbed plentiful Life energy into his body again. The red-haired boy was proud of this ability of his to quickly change shifts.


    The two eyed each other warily for a few seconds as Arza circled around Evin slowly. In the North, they didn''t use a colored cloth to start the battle. They didn''t really use anything to indicate the beginning of a fight. Both sides agreed to fight and they would both wait for each other''s first move.


    The first move of a spar was very important in the North. It represented the will, patience, and experience of the fighters. The first move could be anything, even sucker punches were allowed, although it was considered quite dishonorable.


    After a while, Arza''s patience ran out and he dashed at Evin with a shout. Evin didn''t seem panicked, as he snapped his right-hand finger, his index finger to be exact. Arza was slightly confused, but the next thing shocked him even greatly. He could see Evin taking on a transparent and dark-purple hue!


    ''He didn''t swallow a Chameleon skin! So he couldn''t even be bothered to hide his cards in front me, huh!?'' Arza was very irritated.


    Evin then took on a more serious stance and threw an air punch towards Arza. As Arza was wondering what the hell was wrong with Evin today, an invisible force hit him in the guts suddenly. Its strength was so powerful, that it could bepared to getting hit in the guts with a giant wooden hammer, while you''re sprawled on the ground with your limbs tied to wooden stakes.


    And weirdly, after he received the punch, Arza realized that Evin took on a transparent hue for a second before it was all used up due to the invisible punch.


    This meant that that even before Arza processed what had happened, Evin was able to fully cast a spell without any preparations.


    Arza was thoroughly shocked, but he wasn''t a defenselessmoner. Even if he was hit with an absurd attack like that, he could tank it with his body to a certain degree. Arza was pushed back half a step, sure, but he stabilized himself almost immediately. Even as he received the blow, his eyes never lost vision of Evin, so he could see his sparring partner snapping his left-hand index finger now.


    ''What next?''


    The next moment, Arza could feel his weight bing unbearably heavy. It wasn''t crushing, but it could definitely affect the course of the fight. But Arza got used to this new weight and resolutely ran at Evin, but with each step, he could feel the pressure on him increasing.


    ''My weight bes bigger the closer I get to him! Such a strong spell!'' Arza thought with some admiration as he gazed at the ck-haired boy who was leisurely eyeing him back. But this didn''t demoralize the boy, instead it brought out his fighting spirit. He was getting too bored of always having the upper hand in these battles between children. Only Evin could make him feel threatened like this. Only he could make his blood boil with fire!


    Then, Evin began to throw out random air punches towards Arza. Sometimes it would be straight jabs, sometimes it would be side sweeps, or sometimes Evin would just move his hands downwards. Correspondingly, a force of air would hit Arza from either his bottom, top, or either sides.


    Arza wasn''t able to dodge the first few ones, but after receiving the same attack a few times, Arza learned how to anticipate it. There would always be an either one to two second dy after Evin''s punch and the air around him would shimmer ever so slightly each time. Evin would also take on a transparent hue, before the attack came, so it was very telegraphed.


    In about two minutes, Arza was able to dodge the attacks consistently, so he began to search for ways to get closer to Evin.


    When Arza got close enough, he suddenly sped up like the heavy weight on him was nonexistent. He obviously used the Heavy World to turn himself lighter again as a countermeasure. This move took a small toll on his body''s total strength, but it was a worthy tradeoff in Arza''s judgement. He also managed to make it so that the spell''s intensity could be adjusted freely. Thanks to this, he could feel the same amount of pressure at any distance from Evin. Moreover, making something heavier was always more harder than making something lighter, this was the undoubted truth of the Heavy World. In terms of energy usage, Arza should have the advantage.


    Confidently, Arza began to trade blows with Evin after he closed the distance. Every punch was strong enough to knock Evin unconscious, but sadly, none of them hit its mark. Evin was using some sort of unknown martial art and Arza was having trouble grasping it. Arza''s blows were unrelenting and violent like hail, but Evin was like a body of water, no matter how much ripples appeared in his surface due to the hail, in the end, he was left unharmed.


    Not only that, Arza could clearly feel that Evin wasn''t taking this fight seriously at all. He didn''t try to fight back, he wasn''t using any spells, he was just reactively countering Arza''s blows like his mind was focused on something else. This pissed Arza off greatly, so he decided to take the melee up a notch.

 Chapter 143: Very violent hero

    Chapter 143: Very violent hero


    His punches became faster and sharper at the price of some strength. Thanks to this, Evin was finally forced to act a bit more seriously, and Arza began to face a fierce counterattack. Thetter''s uncanny precision started to show, as every one of his punches and jabs would focus on Arza''s weak points without mercy. Eyes, ears, throat, sr plexus, and ribs. For better or worse, Evin knew exactly how sturdy Arza was. He wasn''t like Er, who fought Arza like he was handling a ss sculpture.


    And Arza couldn''t just tank it like he would do so usually, since Evin''s mastery of the Heavy World allowed him to muster out some seriously hard-hitting blows at times. If Arza fought in melee range using his muscles and energy, Evin fought in melee range using thews of the World, as Evin himself liked to boast.


    Arza''s hot-headedness dissipated, as he focused on defending his vitals. He then noticed that Evin was fighting a bit weirdly as well. Although, his attacks were precise, they could still be called sloppy, by Evin''s standards. There was a slight dy, or some kind of brief slow-motion-like movement in his attacks. Usually, Arza wouldn''t care much about such details, but he felt like he could grasp the methods behind Evin''s martial art from those movements.


    His mind went full throttle as he intently observed Evin''s movements. Evin himself didn''t seem to mind as much as he patiently performed his moves in front of Arza. Like this, the crowd was forced to watch the two children exchange countless blows for half an hour. Usually they would be bored, but they could see that the repressed Arza was slowly but surely getting stronger and more adept after each blow. Something about this fact excited the crowd greatly, as they loudly cheered from the sidelines every time Arza looked to have won a series of exchanges.


    At this point, Arza had all but forgotten why they began to fight in the first ce. His mind was as calm as the skies and was singrly focused on studying Evin''s fighting style. But, unfortunately, good things had to end eventually.


    "It''s time to get a bit serious," Evin muttered indistinctly. No one in the crowd could hear it, but Arza, who was near him certainly could.


    ''Dammit,'' A bad feeling arose in his heart.


    Evin''s attacks increased in intensity once more and Arza found himself in a reactive situation. While before, Evin would mainly throw out punches and jabs, this time, he unreservedly used kicks, feints, leg sweeps, shoving moves, and tackles on top of the punches. There was none of the wonderful dy, or slow-motion-like movement that Arza could see before. Only brutal efficiency was apparent from Evin''s movements.


    Of Evin''s new move set, Arza had the most trouble dealing with the feints, since he had just spent 30 minutes reacting to Evin''s small movements which were always followed by either a jab or a punch.


    Inevitably, Arza''s attention slipped and it created an opportunity for Evin to perform a series of attacks. Arza fell for one of Evin''s feints to his eyes and tried to swat it down with his left hand. Evin caught this loose hand, pulled it down and performed a brutal knee into Arza''s gut. Arza tried to stabilize himself, but suddenly, he felt himself lightly floating on the air, unable to feel the constant pressure that Evin''s Heavy spell emitted. The sudden change of weight made it ten times harder for Arza to find top from bottom, but Evin''s attack wasn''t over yet.


    A feathery, almost carefree punchnded on Arza''s chest, but the recipient of the punch knew what would follow afterwards.


    ''Shit!'' Arza wasn''t even able to finish his thought, as the air shimmered and he felt a huge force of concentrated air particles hitting him square in the chest. This attack was at least three times stronger than the ones that Evin threw out previously. Arza hurriedly canceled the weight-reducing Heavy World spell to not fly away too fast, but Evin seemed to know exactly what he was thinking, as Arza could feel himself bing almost weightless instantly.


    ''Fuc-!''


    Arza couldn''t even finish swearing in his head, as his body flew away like a bullet and violently crashed into the arena''s barrier. A crack also resounded from his body, but Arza wasn''t quite able to focus on it, as he readied his mind to fight against the pain. He didn''t regret this small decision of his, as waves of throbbing pain began to assault his mind incessantly. Just a slip of his mind, and he might''ve fallen unconscious. Almost automatically, his subconscious began to fix his battered body under the asional static from the barrier surrounding him.


    The fuss from the crowd instantly died out as an eerie silence filled the arena.


    Arza groaned painfully as he judged the damage done. His right hand and right side rib was fractured, but that was a good oue in Arza''s eyes. Thankfully, he managed to tilt slightly during the flight and not hit the barrier with his back like Er. He also managed to cushion the impact greatly with his strengthened skin and muscles, so the only thing that was really getting him was the pain from the broken bones.


    ''This is why it''s such a pain to fight against Evin. One moment you''re rxed, exchanging blows lightheartedly, and the next moment you find yourself half-dying with your whole body smashed to pulp. Ugh, right after I dered that he was my hero, as well... '' Arza desperately tried thinking of something humorous to ignore the pain as the currents of Life energy fixed his broken bones.


    ''Speaking of fighting against Evin, this shouldn''t be the end of it, right?'' Arza grimaced and looked towards Evin with some dread. Sure enough, the other had taken a pose like he was about throw out another punch and was seemingly expecting something.


    ''He''s waiting for me to surrender,'' Arza realized. Part of him wanted to continue to struggle, but he couldn''t quite willingly force his body to get pommeled. The self-proimed fearless Arza had lost this particr trait after the fight with the four mages. He knew that the reason they managed to stay alive, was mostly due to luck and coincidence not to mention their enemies underestimating them substantially.


    Arza then looked at the crowd around. Everyone looked at his sorry figure with worry. There were even some that looked at him with anticipation and expectation. They''ve seen how strong and domineering Arza was usually, but they couldn''t quite feel it in this fight, so they still thought that Arza had something in store for them.


    ''I''m sorry to disappoint, but I can only look domineering against weaker opponents,'' Arza sighed in his heart. Every one of his attacks against Evin wereparable to hisst punch against Er, but in the end, he could only move some air with them.


    He then looked at Evin and wondered why he wasn''t attacking. Arza saw a weird set of emotions in Evin''s eyes: disappointment and encouragement. Maybe Arza was reading wrongly, but perhaps Evin wanted him to struggle more? But why?


    Again, Arza fell into the World of Thoughts and began to brainstorm.

 Chapter 144: Advertising

    Chapter 144: Advertising


    Evin was never the emotional type, and would always scoff at Arza''s hot-headedness. Usually, he would hate this kind of prolonged fight the most. If Evin sparred, he would always have an objective in doing so, be it testing new spells or moves, or just for revisiting old techniques.


    But this spar, Evin did none of that. He purposefully slowed down his attacks and even went on to continue the spar for 30 minutes, so Arza could get a grasp on Evin''s technique. It was almost like Evin was instructing Arza.


    ''Perhaps this is his objective?'' Arza wondered with some appreciation.


    But there was still another thing that bothered him:


    "Then why does he want me to struggle against him?"


    Since Evin decided to go serious, it meant that he was done with this weird form of training, at least for the time being. As long as he didn''t forget something and wanted to retrain Arza, there was no reason for him to continue the fight. Unless of course, he had something else in mind.


    Arza didn''t know what it was, but he didn''t mind ying along. He exited the World of Thoughts and was met again with Evin''s scornful re.


    ''Dammit, he somehow knows when I enter the World of Thoughts'' Arza thought guiltily.


    But the boy didn''t linger on this thought for long and began to invigorate his body with Life energy once more. He slowly pulled himself up from the barrier and fell down to the ground with a grunt. Slowly, pink electricity began to spark around his body. Hopeful murmurs began to appear from the crowd.


    "Not bad," Evin smirked.


    "Why not pummel me till I''m unconscious?"


    "I wanted to try out a few more spells. Who could guess that you would end up like that after a single serious attack from me?" Evin said casually.


    His words caused the crowd to be silent and re at him with vehemence.


    But although he didn''t know why, Arza knew that Evin was acting at this point, so he didn''t take these insults personally. On the contrary, Arza was genuinely worried about Evin''s reputation, while thetter didn''t seem to notice or care about the subject at all.


    ''I really envy that uncaring attitude of his,'' Arza couldn''t help but think.


    "You know what? Since I know you''re like a cockroach who will get up no matter how many times you fall, I''ll just forfeit. It''s not like we''ve bet anything, anyway," Evin shrugged.


    The rest of the children started booing, and calling him a coward, but Evin''s ears were impervious to such attacks. Arza also wanted to protest, but a look from Evin stopped him from doing so.


    ''y along, idiot! I''ll seriously kill you if you don''t!'' Evin''s eyes seemed to say.


    "Then, we''ll meet again in the Battle for the Horn," Arza dered confidently. Evin seemed confused by the term, as he cocked his in puzzlement.


    "What''s that?"


    "It''s a tournament where the winner will get to pray to St directly and receive their Horn of Choice," Arza exined.


    "Oh," Evin grinned maliciously.


    ''You already have two choices, and you want a third one?'' Evin''s mocking gaze seemed to ask.


    "Whatever, it''ll depend on other stuff, mostly my mood," Evin dered and prepared to leave. Just before he left, he nced at a spot in the crowd and grinned, like his n was aplished.


    Thirty minutes after the fight, Evin was hiding in the shadows of Arza''s room, listening to Arza, Bardom, Koya and Rantz badmouthing him.


    "Just get out and talk to them, why do you have to stalk them like this?" Rith asked, sitting beside Evin in his shadow.


    Enri and Runa were happily ying around with the other World Sprites nearby.


    "But I''m toozy to exin and this is entertaining enough," Evin sat with a tired expression.


    "But we''ve been sitting here for twenty minutes! Just go out there and exin. Then you can go back and sleep," Rith said.


    "Ugh, fine"


    Koya was still checking on Arza''s body to see whether there were any problems, despite Arza''s insistence that it was okay.


    At this point, Arza was so good at the World of Life, that he could reattach a cut off limb if he had enough time.


    "Is he always an asshole like that?" Rantz was asking with a cookie in her mouth.


    "No, he was trying to do something, but I don''t know what it was. It seemed to be a sess, judging from how he acted in the end," Arza replied.


    "He seems really meddlesome"


    "That he is" Arza was saying, before he noticed a swirl in the shadows in one corner of the room. The others also noticed that something was amiss as well.


    "Eek!" Rantz eximed and jumped behind Arza.


    "It''s just Evin," Arzaforted her.


    "It''s not nice to badmouth someone behind their backs," Evin uttered as his features became more apparent.


    "Isn''t it worse to eavesdrop when you''re not invited?" Koya answered with a scoff.


    "Okay, whatever," Evin was truly tired.


    He had just finished a grueling twenty day training program of him perfecting his set of gestures and right after he was finished, he had to y an act with the unknowing Arza. Not to mention the fact that Arza didn''t know that he was in an act for the most part.


    "So, what was that all about?" Arza asked.


    "Oh, that I was hoping to get a bigshot to take notice of you, like how Nasst became my sponsor," Evin answered shortly.


    "What?"


    "Did you notice Elder Deminte in the crowd while we were fighting?" Evin asked.


    "What? No. Why would she even bother toe watch a fight between children?" Arza was doubtful.


    "Well, she was there, concealed behind ayer of illusions. Maybe she was bored, or maybe that Er was someone close to her. In any case, she was sitting there, so I thought that maybe I could get her to notice you," Evin exined.


    "And how would you fighting with me grasp her attention?" Arza asked doubtfully.


    "Well, I had my ideas... But I''m too tired to bother exining them to you. But at the end of the fight, I saw Deminte saying something to her attendant while looking at you, so I''m pretty sure you will be invited to her ce very soon," Evin said.


    Arza wanted to scoff, but he also held some hope in his heart. He knew exactly how much stronger Evin had be under the tutge of Nasst. If he could have someone strong like that backing him, then his future would be bright.


    "Anyway, when you''re negotiating the terms, make sure you ask for a simr treatment to mine. Don''t sell your life short," Evin reminded and then exined some parts of his contract with Nasst.


    "But in the end, it''s your choice. If you want to dedicate your life in service to the olddy, I won''t stop you," Evin reminded and continued: "Oh and also, seriously stop loitering in the World of Thoughts. I don''t want to die under Aran''s spell for not taking care of you properly"


    As he finished speaking, a knock came to the door. Evin instantly scurried into his shadows under Arza''s bed.

 Chapter 145: The End of the Observation.

    Chapter 145: The End of the Observation.


    Arza walked up and opened the door. In front of him stood a tall man with an icy gaze.


    "You are Arza, right?" the man asked.


    "Yes, who might you be?"


    "Lady Deminte wishes to meet you. Please follow me," the man dered in a no-nonsense way.Something about his tone implied that he wouldn''t take no for an answer.


    The three kids inside, gasped in surprise, as Evin''s guess became the truth. But they didn''t dare say anything out loud, as they could guess from how Evin was acting that this was supposed to be a secret.


    "Then please give me a second," Arza replied and had the other three go out of his room. Right before he was about to close the door and lock it up, the man suddenly stopped him and leaned down to the ground. His eyes scanned the underside of the bed. But then seemingly not finding anything, he got up like nothing happened and let Arza lock the door. Bardom and Koya looked slightly surprised, with only Rantz looking a bit worried.


    Evin, on the other hand, didn''t dare look at the man from his shadows. He heard the room get locked and the footsteps fading away.


    "Finally, I can go back and sleep," Evin murmured blissfully and prepared to slide through under the door and leave.


    "You should probably have me portal you out. The man put down a trap near the doorway. Oh and also, don''t get out of your shadow," Rith reminded.


    "Really? Okay, just get me to my bed," Evin said and a secondter, he appeared inside his own room in the form of a shadow and plopped out with Rith.


    "Finally finished" Evin said and sprawled on the bed.


    "But it was very worth it. And you should probably get used to working like this, since a lot of times, mages would have to go through phases like these to be stronger," Rithforted him from the side.


    "Are you sure I will be able to change skills from my gestures? I don''t want to be left with this move-set forever, you know?" Evin asked warily. The reason he trained his mind to cast so many spells without really caring for the overall quality of the spells, was because Rith told him that it could be changed in the future. Evin really didn''t wish to be stuck with weak spells on his code words.


    "It''s a bit difficult for some, but it should be pretty easy for you. The reason being that most mages usually practice gestures simrly to how you practiced it at first. Just endlessly practicing, until it works. But after that, they can almost never change it. But you have a certain amount of control over it, since, as you''ve exined yourself, you can spectate how your subconsciousness constructs these spells and you can affect them to some degree. You don''t know how hard that is usually," Rith exined with some pride.


    "Well, if you say so," Evin chuckled and his eyes fluttered slightly, before he went to dreand.


    After properly covering the boy with his nket, Rith gotfortable and entered the World of Space. Inside it, Abvelgail was waiting for his sister with a piece of paper floating in front of him.


    "Is it finally approved?" Rith asked, eyeing the piece of paper with some anticipation.


    "Yes. I believe they would have a difficult time refusing, since you''ve been so passionately positive in your report," chuckled Abe.


    "Who will be the instructor?" Rith asked without hiding her emotions.


    "The task will fall into your hands" Abe said slowly. Rith was overjoyed, but her brother wasn''t finished:


    "But remember, after you are finished with the instruction, you will not be allowed to linger near the boy any longer, as per the rules of our Group. Sure they can permit you to be his contracted Cosmic, but I don''t think our father will be so happy to see you spending time with the boy for so long," Abe reminded with a worried face.


    "You think I''m so desperate to fall for a human male?"


    "It has happened before, no?" Abe retorted sarcastically.


    "Urgh, don''t remind me of my shameful past. Anyway, don''t bother worrying. I will teach him all I can and that''ll be the end of it. But I won''t say that I won''t keep in touch with him afterwards. Just don''t try to meddle between us. My stubborn bones might take over and I might do something unsavory," Rith said half-jokingly.


    "See, I understand that you would do something stupid if people kept prodding you continuously, but others might not. So at least keep a neutral front when you''re dealing with other Cosmics," Abe reminded and gave Rith the floating piece of paper alongside a Storage Ring, which contained some necessary materials for Evin.


    Rith nced through the contents and found that most of the things that she had to teach Evin were the typical stuff. But there was one thing that caught her attention.


    "These are the resources and spells for a separate dimension, no? But it''s heavily leaning into the Dark World, instead of the usual World of Thoughts What''s this about?" Rith asked.


    "Oh, think of it as a little promotion gift from me. Heard you loved to live in Evin''s shadow, so we decided to give you some renovation methods," Abe said with a shrug.


    "Promotion gift? Did I get promoted?" Rith asked confusedly.


    "You still act like my silly little sister sometimes," Abeughed and the white stars on his body slowly turned bright blue.


    "You''re a lesser-imposer now!" Rith eximed with shock and pride.


    "You''re catching up pretty fast yourself, aren''t you? I heard you asked about buying aplete World Core from the headquarters a few days ago. What color do your stars look like now?" Abe asked.


    "They''re almost white. And yes, I''ve been thinking about it But they''re still a bit too expensive for me," Rith smiled bashfully and replied honestly.


    "If you want I can lend you some money for it," Abe offered with a sly smile.


    "You think me stupid? I almost got kicked out of the Group trying to pay back one debt I owed you. You''re worse than mostnd-sharks," Rith refused instantly and shuddered a bit, thinking of the memories of that time.


    "Ha-ha-ha, well, if you don''t have anything else, I''ll be on my way. Have fun with your student," Abe said and started working on a portal.


    "Wait, there must be something else, right?" Rith asked.


    "What do you mean?"


    "Don''t y dumb, there''s no way father would allow you to casually gift a Mana Complex to a random boy, as gift nheless," Rith said skeptically.


    "Hmm, well, I suppose it''s difficult to hide this from you. We did talk extensively about Evin and our family''s situation. Although father might look neutral in how he deals with Evin, it''s quite obvious he wants to prod him a bit and see what it brings," Abvelgail exined.


    "I don''t really feel like Evin''s someone interested in money. As long as he feels that he has enough, he''d most likely stay passive..." Rith said and thought a bit.


    "You''re getting a bit slow on the uptake, huh? The Rith from 40 years ago would''ve seen through father''s n two minutes ago," Abe joked and gave a hint: "Think about how much money and effort goes into maintaining an entire dimension."


    Rith immediately noticed the bait.


    "Sure he makes a lot of money, but it would never be enough to support a dimension... which would force him to consider selling another idea to us..."


    "See? Your brain juice is still working fine," Abe smiled and flew out into the portal he was making.


    "Evin''s going to get busy again Ah, shit, I have to eventually bring him to see the old man as well," Rith muttered under her breath and exited the World.

 Chapter 146: A coincidential meeting.

    Chapter 146: A coincidential meeting.


    The next morning, Evin woke up and read through his little calendar with a bullet list. Something felt a bit off to him, but Evin didn''t linger on it.


    ''Where''s Rith? Is she just sleeping in my shadow again? Since she seems to be veryx about her observationstely, perhaps she''s finally finished with it?'' Evin wondered hopefully and read through his to-do list.


    -Authority Style


    -Breakfast


    -Finish absorbing Core Shard


    -Lunch with Rhea [3


    -Gestures


    -Gestures


    -Gestures


    -Die?


    -Gestures


    -Cry


    -Dinner


    -Debate doing Gestures


    -Sleep


    Evin then happily crossed out the ''Gestures'' and the ''Die?'' and went on to practice his martial arts. Even though Evin thought that he would unlock the second level of the scroll, but he was still stuck practicing the first level. And ording to Nasst, usually these things took months if not years to unlock sometimes, so he could only be patient and practice silently.


    Afterwards, Evin ate some milk with a bunch of raw bread. Preparing himself a bit, he took out the Core Shard from his storage and looked at it with some aplishment. There was only a tiny piece of the Core Shard left in the vial and after today, Evin would be almost 3.9% done (41.8% of his heart being mana-core) with his road to the rank of lesser-imposers. ording to his first estimates, he was supposed to reach 4%, but as he was assimting the Core Shard, the efficiency fell over time and became 3.9% instead.


    ''Well, I have the chance to ask Nasst about a new method afterwards,'' Evinforted himself.


    Shaking his head, Evin brought out thest piece of the syringe and the prepared concoction. The Shard inside the vial writhed around in a lively manner, when it saw Evin again. Evin was very scared at first, but over time, he found it cute.


    He inserted the syringe into the vial, and watched as the remaining piece of the shard gathered at the needle tip to be sucked away and then injected into Evin''s bloodstream. After the Shard reached his heart, it began to slowly get absorbed into it. Finally finishing after almost four hours, Evin heaved a sigh of relief.


    As he was sitting down on his bed, a portal appeared inside Evin''s room and Rith came out.


    "Where did you go?" Evin finally realized that Rith wasn''t sleeping in his shadow, and had went out to somewhere.


    "What, miss me already?" Rith teased.


    "No, I thought you were sleeping in my shadow, so I was slightly surprised"


    Rith did not seem to like the answer and pulled out a piece of paper.


    "Congrats. It seems we''ll be stuck together for a while since I will have to teach you Space magic," Rith said with a tsk.


    "Oh, nice! Finally!" Evin eximed happily and went to hug Rith. The Cosmic didn''t shy away from the hug and let the boy hug to his heart''s content.


    "Don''t get too happy. You''re going to need a lot of time training, and you still haven''t met with Nasst yet. I''ll decide what to do with your training afterwards," Rith reminded.


    At these words, Evin''s enthusiasm went down a bit and he nodded seriously.


    "But first, let''s go see Rhea and have a cup of coffee," Rith said with a beaming smile.


    "Don''t get addicted, or you''ll regret it. You may even copse and die," Evin reminded gravely. He didn''t know how caffeine worked on a Cosmic''s physiology, but it surely wasn''t anything too positive.


    "Oh, don''t nag. Come on, let''s go," Rith said excitedly and lead the way.


    ''What have I done?'' Evin thought with worry, but still followed behind the cat. He was addicted as well, so he couldn''t quite help himself, or the Cosmic. He could only pray that everything will turn out okay.


    Reaching the stall''s location, strangely, Evin found that the spot was empty. Confused, Evin looked around, before one of the men told Evin that his crush''s stall was promoted and that she moved to the higher-ss area of the Tribe.


    Evin was a bit surprised that Rhea didn''t say anything about her promotion, but he didn''t take it to heart and asked for directions.


    The high-ss area of the Tribe was near the mage-area of the Tribe grounds, so Evin was quite happy for this change, since the ce was closer to him.


    As for the residents of that ce, they were the wealthier non-mages of the North owned or rented somend in one of the Tribes that were designed to nurture younglings for the Horn Ceremony. Well, it was natural, as non-mage children weren''t as independent as most mage children, and needed to be taken care of by their parents or guardians.


    Oh, and also, non-mage and mage parents of 3-4 year old young mages also stayed in the higher-ss areas of the Tribe. Overall, it was a great chance for Rhea''s coffee business to be more popr. Those people were much more likely to spend some coin on unique and weird drinks.


    ''But that means that my alone time with Rhea would be less'' Evin thought with some regret. Shaking his head, Evin strutted through the streets.


    When Evin entered the higher-ss area, the stares he received changed dramatically. Instead of the naked curiosity of themon men and women in the other areas, these people looked at Evin with veiled fear and apprehension. They obviously recognized him.


    ''Guess I''m kinda popr here, huh?'' Evinmented, but then realized that maybe others would be less likely to associate with Rhea if they knew that he was a frequent customer of Rhea''s stall. Happily, he strode on.


    A few minutester, he saw the woman bending over to pick up a big bag of what seemed to be coffee beans from beside a small cart filled with merchandise and other stuff.


    ''I''ve heard that staring at boobs, or ass will help men live a bit longer, this act is very important for my immortality quest,'' Evin thought gleefully, as he finally decided to help out a bit when he saw Rhea pick it up with some effort.


    Rhea, who was struggling with the big bag of coffee, suddenly felt the thing bing weightless.


    ''Did it rip somewhere,'' she thought confusedly, and wondered how she wasn''t able to hear anything scattering on the pavement. But when she thought about it, the bag still seemed quite full, so Rhea was even more puzzled.


    ''What is happening?'' she was thinking, before she heard a familiar childish voice call her name,


    "Rhea, congrats on the promotion"


    "Oh, Evin! Sorry for not telling you anything, before moving," Rhea replied curtly, but her attention was on the bag of coffee in her hands, as she confusedly looked at it, seemingly looking for a tear somewhere.


    "I made it lighter, don''t be so confused," Evin chuckled.


    "Oh! I see, I see. No wonder. Thought I was going crazy. One moment I was struggling with this and before I knew it, the damn thing became weightless. Thought it spilled over the ground, or something," Rheaughed and put her palm to her forehead.


    "Sorry for the startle, how''d you end up moving here?" Evin asked curiously.


    "Oh, sorry again, for not telling you. My boss from Tower City actually decided toe and invest a bit into this branch. He was visiting the main branch in Koidot City, and then came here today and see how I was doing, while delivering the coffee beans for the winter," Rhea said, ying around with the weightless bag of beans with an amused face.


    Evin was quite surprised when he heard that the boss-man hade personally for deliveries.


    ''Wait, I own this ce. I should be the boss-man. Though I am curious about the idea pitcher,'' Evin thought and realized that aside from the man''s name, he really didn''t know much.

 Chapter 147: Ofi Pasha

    Chapter 147: Ofi Pasha


    "And he decided to get you to change your workce in the process? Well, I suppose you can''t work a stall in the winter, huh?" Evin asked amusedly.


    "He can be quite an entric person. Also, he has the resources for it, since the brand seems to be doing quite well all around the world," Rhea said with a smile.


    "Anyway, do you need help with something?"


    "Oh, I can''t have you help out with the setup, don''t worry about it. But you should talk to boss, he seemed eager to let you try out some new kind of recipe," Rhea said and lead Evin into the small shop.


    Inside, a short, 30-ish man with a healthy tan was supervising some construction workers. His moustache moved about in a lively way as he spat out orders like the long-aplished captain of a shipping boat.


    "Boss, the young mage I was talking about is here!" Rhea shouted out.


    The mustached man turned his towards Rhea and Evin, before putting on an amiable face.


    "Hello, young master! I''ve heard great things about you! Thank you for your continued patronage to our store!" the man said loudly.


    "I just like the drink and Rhea here, so it''s a win-win for me," Evinughed, and winked at Rhea. Thetter sighed exaggeratedly and lightly pinched at Evin''s cheeks.


    The man was a bit angry at Rhea''s rude behavior, but noticed that Evin didn''t seem to mind it and calmed down.


    "Honestly, I was not very confident in this branch, as you might guess, but since it''s helped another coffee lover like yourself to sate your thirst, I simply couldn''t get myself to leave it unattended. Since winter wasing, I searched for an indoor shop area and found this little spot here," the man said emotionally.


    Evin was a bit moved to hear that the man was willing to lose some profit for a single customer.


    "By the way, what''s your name, Sir? And how did you find the idea to start a coffee shop?"Evin asked curiously.


    "Oh, I go by Ofi Pasha. My story began from a small vige that lived near a small, but rather thin and long Oasis. One of the families there, worked a coffee ntation that he would sell to some of the bigger Oasis cities near the bigkes. He would also prepare the coffee in a very peculiar way, which I wanted to let you try out," Ofi said with a smile.


    "Wait, now that I think about it, how do you grow coffee in the desert?" Evin asked. To his knowledge, most oases had a few palm trees surrounding the water, and there were practically no dark soil to speak of.


    "Oh, young master must''ve never seen an actual Oasis city before. Ha-ha-ha, if I wasn''t born in one, I suppose I would be quite surprised as well. The Oases in the East are very special, as they are a patch of green fertilend lodged right in the middle of the vastndscape of sand. Us, Easterners call them the ''Inds of the golden sea''. And truth be told, it does look quite off-putting when I look at it from afar sometimes the unnatural way grass green mixes with the yellow sand," Ofi said with some nostalgia.


    "But that''s so unscientific" Evin couldn''t quite imagine it. Sand and soil could be called the same thing, since soil was just 80, or 85 percent sand mixed with other things, but and which had both green patches of grass and sandy areas right next to each other was just unscientific.


    "Hah, some smart people do say that, but us little men, just chalk it up to the one of the miracles of the Empress," Ofi shrugged.


    ''Ah, yes the Empress'' will,'' Evin thought, and for some reason, seemed to ept the fact. He soon gave up on thinking much about it.


    "I thought you guys were against the Empire, with your deration of bing an independent Empire and everything," Evin asked.


    "Ah, don''t associate me with those idiots. A bunch of bored politicians who got nothing better to do. If they''ve got the time and gold to write up a bunch of new and uselessws and regtions, they should''ve spent it on coffee beans!" Ofi said angrily.


    "Well, us little men have no say in those things, so it''s usually best to ignore it. More importantly, what''s this new way of brewing coffee you were talking about?" Evin asked.


    "Oh, that. It''s very simple, but it''s quite strongpared to a normal dripping method. Please, sit down, I will prepare one for you," Ofi said and ran outside with light steps.


    Evin noticed a bunch of stuff inside the cart, and wondered how the man was going to get it from there. Evin would''ve helped, but he didn''t want to bother, as hezily looked around the area and watched the workers setting up the coffee beans in sses and some other shelves. There was also a big stone oven in the shop, as well.


    "Are you going to work a bakery on the side?" Evin asked.


    "Oh, we would love to but that''s from the old owner of this ce. So, that oven will probably have to collect some dust for the time being," Rhea answered.


    "What happened to the previous owner?" Evin asked.


    "Sounded like they were pushed to bankruptcy by a bigger bakery nearby but I couldn''t quite hear the full story"


    Hearing about a bakery, Evin thought about his family.


    ''Maybe I should visit them when I get the chance'' he thought idly. He still had the Velvet Contract with the Artificing skill to give to Sasha Arza needed to visit the serpent as well And Evin himself was thinking of buy some kind ofmunication device and leave one with his family.


    Evin could technically use a portal to go back and forth asionally, but the price was a bit too big, even for Evin. By Rith''s calctions, she would need about 120 kgs worth of lodestones and the help of another Cosmic to maintain the portal as well. Even though the gift she got from Kena helped her greatly with her control and uracy, her raw power output was stillcking.


    ''Arza should get a holiday at some point, right? Guess we can go during that. Wait, no, he''s under Deminte''s care now... Speaking of him, I wonder what happened with Deminte,'' Evin wondered idly.


    [Ah, this kind of lifestyle is so peaceful... right? Sometimes, I wish I could go out and have some fun and search for St a bit... The Authorities give me lots of good stuff, after all,] Evin thought out loud inside his shadow.


    [I suppose that''s so, but isn''t being peaceful the best? Sure, you got a lot of useful things for going around and meeting powerful individuals, but most of the time it was overly dangerous and you even almost died that one time,] Rith reminded.


    [I really don''t think anything was overly dangerous aside from the lesser-imposer incident, though... And it''s not like things will always be dangerous...] Evin retorted.


    [You should always remember that the strong don''t really think too deeply about the weak. Something that''s insignifant to them could very well be lethal to people like us]


    Evin fell silent at those words, and fell into thought.


    He then saw Ofi bringing in a small bup bag, which dripped some sand down to the floor. He then ordered Rhea to put fire to the stove. Rhea smiled lightly and


    "It''s a bit unauthentic, but please bear with me," Ofi said and poured a bunch of sand into a big metal wok, before putting it on top of the stove to heat up. He then brought out a cone shaped bronze pot and just mixed some powdered coffee with some water and put it on the side.


    ''Ooh, Turkish coffee?'' Evin looked with interest. To help speed up the process, Evin added some fire to the stove with his magic. After a few minutes, the sand had heated up, and Ofi put the bronze pot inside the sand. Almost instantly, the insides of the pot boiled up and Ofi would pull the pot back up. He repeated the process for four more times, before pouring the content into a white cup.


    "I heard you like strong coffee, so I wanted to let you try this one out. Let it still for a bit and drink it in a single gulp, though do be careful of the loose coffee ground. After you finish, put the cup upside down and maybe I''ll do a little fortune telling for you," Ofi said with augh.

 Chapter 148: Not all rainbows and sunshine

    Chapter 148: Not all rainbows and sunshine


    Evin looked at the thick, creamy cup of coffee in front of him and waited with some anticipation. After a bit, he finished the coffee in a single gulp, while being mindful of the loose coffee ground and then toppled over the cup.


    After a little while, Ofi then flipped over the cup very carefully and looked at the patterns.


    "Hmm, it''s mostly dots so many scattered dots. All I can say is that you''re going to be filthy rich. Usually, there would be lines, circles, or even triangles and squares but for you, it''s all dots. Oh, there''s a little ''4'' here, see?" Ofi said and pointed at a certain spot of the cup. Sure enough, Evin could see a very poorly depicted ''4'' on the cup''s inside.


    "This usually means jealousy, or misfortune. Guess some people would want some of your gold, eh?" Ofiughed.


    Evin, thinking of the fact that he owned this brand and usually received a lot of money from it, found the whole matter very ironic and amusing. As for the part about jealousy, or misfortune, Evin conveniently ignored it as simple superstition.


    "Anyway, I wanted to ask you something, how are you so fine, even after you drink such strong coffee? I mean, most kids go crazy after a little sip," Ofi asked suddenly.


    "Maybe my body just works a bit differently than others. Also, in general, I believe mages have a stronger and more resilient systempared to non-mages. And even if I find something wrong, I can fix it very easily," Evin said after thinking a bit.


    "Oh, could you describe what you feel, or see when you drink coffee?" Ofi asked passionately.


    The two chatted for a while about coffee and its effects, as Evin helped a bit with the shop setup. At the end of it, Ofi invited Evin to Tower City.


    "Doe visit us in Tower City in two years, to see the Velvet Procession. I''ll make sure to save up a spot for you," Ofi offered, to which Evin agreed happily. He nned to take a nce at the Empress, one way or another in his life.


    Saying his goodbyes, Evin walked back to his mansion with a cup of coffee in his hands. Rith didn''t wish toe out of Evin''s shadow for whatever reason, and had asked Evin to get one for her.


    [He seems like a pretty normal person Minus the parts where he talks about coffee,] Evin joked to Rith.


    [Well, that''s a rtively tame version of him. Do you know how crazy he was three years ago, when he was just starting the business?] Rith said, sighing.


    [By the way, what kind of things will you be teaching me?] Evin asked curiously.


    [Most of the things I can do. Normal portals, Storage magic, Artificing, Portal des, you name it. There''s also a little bonus from Abvelgail, which is rted to a miniature World]


    [A miniature World? What''s that?]


    [It''s just a fancier Storage space, one which can contain living beings, like the ce I put horses and other animals. Your shadow could be considered one, so you can consider yourself pretty lucky,] Rith said.


    [But as you''ve said, I already have the Shadow Storage, why do I need another one?] Evin asked.


    [Don''t be so impatient. What we''re going to do is renovating your shadow. It''s too empty for the time being. The Cosmics have made tons of research on Inner Worlds, and the Shadow Storage of Dark Mages aren''t exempt from that. I even got to know a few things I didn''t know from the study materials,] Rith said proudly.


    Evin was very happy to hear about the miniature World. He was wondering about how he was going to make a morefortable environment for the World Sprites, so he was very happy to receive such a skill here.


    [But, first things first, let''s talk with Nasst and see what he has to tell you,] Rith yawned and plopped out of Evin''s shadow after they arrived home.


    Evin walked towards Nasst''s room to tell him that he was finished with his task. He knocked on the door, heard an approving sound from inside and entered.


    "Oh, Evin" Nasst said superficially. Evin noticed that something was wrong. Nasst''s eyes were cold and there wasn''t the usual gentleness in his tone of voice.


    "I''m done with the Gestures and I''ve just finished absorbing the Core Shard," Evin answered.


    "Is that so?" Nasst answered with a barely perceptible hint of mockery in his voice.


    ''What''s wrong with him today?'' Evin wondered.


    "I''ve heard that your friend, Arza, became Deminte''s disciple. Do you have any knowledge about this?" Nasst asked coldly, some of his fingers twitching slightly under his sleeves.


    ''Is that what this is about? I have a feeling I should hide my involvement'' Evin thought annoyedly, but didn''t show it in his face.


    "Perhaps. I fought against him yesterday, and I saw elder Deminte sitting in the crowd. I don''t know why. After the fight, I saw her saying something to an assistant next to her," Evin answered and saw Nasst''s features loosening slightly. He then asked cautiously: "Is there any problem with Arza studying under Deminte?"


    "Nothing in particr Why did you take so long to beat him? And why did you act so differently towards him during the fight?" Nasst asked.


    "I had just finished practicing my gestures, and I wanted to try out its effects. At the same time, I tried out the Authority Style. It may have looked a bit weird at first, but it was because I was trying to get used to using the moves in realbat. As for my attitude, I was a bit pissed at Arza, for making mee over right after I was finished with a huge task. Maybe I took it out on him a little," Evin replied.


    In truth, Evin was deliberately slowing down his attacks, so Arza could get a grasp on it. Naturally, the boy''s genius was able to grasp a certain part of the Authority Style during the countless exchanges. This would surely interest most of the bigshots, not even mentioning Deminte. But thankfully, those other bigshots didn''t have the spare time to sit and watch children fight, like Deminte.


    Evin then urged Arza to struggle and get up, since Evin wanted the boy to show off his unrelenting attitude. Honestly, Evin really thought that Arza would get up even without his own urging. He really didn''t understand how and when the boy changed so much.


    "Is that so?" Nasst said and his tone seemed to be normal again.


    ''Empress fucking almighty, that was scary. Now if that isn''t a red g, then I don''t know what is,'' Evin worriedly thought in his head. He was suddenly very d that he put a use for his own and his family''s safety in the Contract.


    Nasst never showed this slightly insane part of his personality before, and Evin couldn''t understand what triggered him so greatly. Well, Evin''s first guess was that it was because Arza fell under Deminte''s tutge and Nasst believes that Evin was involved somehow. Evin just didn''t understand why the reaction was this extreme.


    ''Does he really hate that woman so much?'' Evin couldn''t help but think.


    "Anyway, any news from the Somaturgy expert?" Evin decided to change the topic.


    "None yet, but we do have another topic we can talk about," Nasst seemed to have calmed down and his hands began to y around with his beard.


    "That is?"


    "It''s faster to show you, follow me to the test room," Nasst said and got up.


    Evin followed behind the man, worriedly thinking of the future that suddenly got very blurry. A shitty boss was barely eptable in Evin''s books, but a mentally unstable one was straight up lethal.

 Chapter 149: Battle-mode

    Chapter 149: Battle-mode


    Entering the test room, Nasst turned around abruptly.


    "Hit me with one of your gesture spells... I understand that you managed to cast many of them in under two seconds"


    Evin nodded and snapped his right-hand middle finger, while in actuality, his tongue scraped the bottom of his mouth thrice. A secondter, his mana-core was filled with a variety of World energies and a collection of spells became avable to cast in his mind at the beck of a thought.


    Evin was very proud of the system he created. He practically programmed his mind in such a way that he had a battle mode and a non-battle mode. He could activate the battle mode by scraping the bottom of his mouth thrice with his tongue. The snap was basically just a ruse. Every other wide and noticeable gesture was a fake as well. In reality, Evin just willfully and clearly thought about a certain word in his mind.


    For example: a ''Straight air thrust'' would cause his mind to cast a World of Storms spell that sent a concentrated pocket of air to the Evin''s front. A ''Heavy Domain'' would create the Wide-area Heavy World spell he used against Arza. A ''Dark room'' would create a normal version, and with some effort, Evin could add in Enri and the others.


    But, if Evin didn''t enter his so-called ''Battle mode'', none of these spells would activate. This was to ensure that Evin wouldn''t cast a spell without intending to when thinking of some random word, which just happened to be a code word.


    After some thinking, Evin decided that this system was the best. It would have been cool if Evin could really use the air jabs and the snaps but that was just too shy and dangerous in an actual fight. But, if Evin could trick his opponents into thinking that they knew what certain gestures meant, that was also worth it.


    If Evin snapped his left hand middle finger and the enemy expected a Heavy Domain, Evin could utilize that in a fight. So, Evin could still act cool, but still maintain the advantage of knowledge.


    ''Perfect...''


    There were many code words and corrting spells inside Evin''s mind. But, sadly, Evin could only cast them in at minimum of 2 seconds. This was because Evin had too little time to practice it. It took him almost two weeks to set up his battle mode, and Evin spent the next two weeks relentlessly drilling in the code words into his brain.


    ''If I could practice like this for another two months he-he-heh,'' Evin smirked excitedly.


    Remembering Nasst''s request, Evin thought ''Straight jab'', and then lightly punched forward. The air in front of Nasst gathered into a small block and then it dashed towards the elder man at great speed, apanied by a no small amount of Storm energy and willpower.


    This was the trick that Evin learned when he was trying to make his Storm spells stronger. If the projectiles you threw out weren''t strong enough, you just had to hold its proverbial hand throughout the entire journey, strengthening it with World Energies and willpower. Out of all the things that Evin tried, this method worked the best.


    But a very interesting thing happened before Evin''s spell hit Nasst. Evin could very clearly tell it, since strands of his willpower were apanying the spell. Evin could only describe the process, as his spell being disintegrated from the ground up.


    If Evin could describe his own spellcasting method as building a model and then giving life to it with World energies, then what happened was simr to how his model just disappeared and all that''s left was purposeless energies.


    "It''s called spell breaking. There are two ways to break spells: to deconstruct them, like l did, and to brute force it. I''m sure you will be able to use deconstruction well, since you cast your spells mostly leaning on your information and knowledge, rather than purely relying on your willpower," Nasst exined and then cast a spell himself. It was a spell simr to Evin''s but Evin could actually see the details of it, since the spell had a silver hue for some reason now. A bunch of air particles gathered together and formed a small silver block.


    "As you can see, your spell is very easy to recreate, since it''s just a simple method of gathering air and throwing it at someone," Nasst said and threw the spell towards the wall as a little demonstration. Then he recreated the spell again and began talking.


    "But since I can understand how you were able to create this spell, I can deconstruct it. The easiest way would be to will the gathered air to disperse again. I''m pretty sure you''ve done something simr without really thinking much about it, or someone must''ve used it on your spell. Oh, Zakhlo should''ve deconstructed your spell when you used the suffocation spell on that boar"


    "Ox," Evin corrected. Arza using the Heavy World to negate the increased gravity on his body was also something simr.


    "Yes, that. Anyway, if you know what the effects of the spell are, and how it was made possible, you can easily negate it. This is Deconstruction. Now, what is Brute forcing? Remember when I talked about how Chaos Creatures can instinctively use raw mana and that makes them very difficult to deal with?" Nasst asked.


    Evin nodded, and remember about the Chaos creature and its ''Perfect Life Structure''.


    "Throw a spell at me," Nasst ordered and Evin threw another Straight air thrust, a little stronger this time.


    As Evin''s spell flew through the air, it hit something akin to a wall of gears and shredders (proverbial). The concentration of air died out and the World energies turned into a messy current of mana. The process seemed to remind Evin of something.


    ''Isn''t this the same as the passive mana that leaks out of peak tier 3 mana-beasts?''


    Every time Evin tried to cast a spell on those kinds of beasts, Evin would see a simr situation unfold.


    "Well, raw mana can be used to break spells, it just takes either a huge amount of it to work properly, which is unrealistic in most real life situations, or it needs very precise control over it. Unfortunately, after using the processed and ready version of mana that are the World energies for the vast majority of our lives, we are simply too inadept at using mana, so the number of mages who can actually use mana properly are very few. Sure, one can eventually get used to it, but that''s only after practicing with it for centuries at least," Nasst smiled like he usually did.


    ''How does he change his attitude so fast?'' Evin wondered how the man could be like he didn''t act like aplete psycho ten minutes ago so effortlessly.


    "Before one is able to use raw mana, though, most able ones opt to use Time energy. You should personally know how powerful it is, considering you''ve had the honor of using a Time bomb," Nasstughed.


    Evin''s mind went to the ring on his hand. It was a great tool, for sure, but it was more like a help beacon and more like a reset button that canceled everyone''s spells out. If the lesser-imposer attacked Evin''s group when they were further away from the City of Smog, then perhaps Evin would be under chains, experiencing the same treatment that Karan received in his previous life.


    "But, unfortunately, only a few people can extract Time energy from Authority Twelve Jokes'' World. To know if you''re one of those lucky few, well, you can only know if you enter the World and try," Nasst said and sat down on a chair.


    Evin understood that Nasst wanted him to do go and try right now.


    ''Now that I think about it, I rarely enter the Worlds nowadays for long times, unless it''s the World of Thoughts,'' Evin realized. At one point after bing a mage, the act of absorbing World energies bes so routine that one wouldn''t even feel like they''ve actually entered a different World and took one some energy from it.


    So, for Evin, entering the World of Time felt a bit nostalgic. He looked around a bit, and actually found that things looked a bit different, like they werecking color. Even his hands looked a shade paler than normal.


    "What''s happening here?" Evin murmured, but he realized that his voice was slightly distorted as well, like he was speaking underground. Then the voice began to echo in his mind endlessly, like the ringing of tinnitus. Thankfully it quieted down to be almost imperceptible, but Evin could still hear it if he tried hard enough.


    ''I really don''t have many good memories in this ce Why the hell is it so scary every time,'' Evin thought dreadfully.


    ...


    Author''s excuses: Today, there will be only one chapter, since I''m a fucking idiot who wrote about somethingpletely random. But rejoice. Tomorrow you will get three.

 Chapter 150: Psycho Twelve

    Chapter 150: Psycho Twelve


    He then noticed that Nasst''s silhouette waspletely still, like the man was stuck in time. Only in the World of Thoughts, a simr look could be seen, since the World greatly slowed down time for a mage. The other Worlds didn''t have such a convenient feature.


    ''Maybe I should leave'' Evin was thinking, before he heard the familiar voice of a girl.


    "Finally, you enter my World. You really like to keep ady waiting, huh?" Twelve Jokes said annoyedly. Unlike Evin''s voice, hers didn''t seem to experience any change in this environment.


    But since Evin now knew who was the culprit behind the weird urrence, he could calm down slightly.


    "Lady Twelve Jokes," he said and turned towards the source of the voice. Evin saw the Authority wearing a light pink dress, onepletely covered withplicatedces. As Evin was wondering if the other had a change of heart in her fashion sense, Twelve Jokes'' clothes suddenly shifted into a distorting mess, before rearranging itself to look like a wine red shirt and skirtbo with a pair of jeans on the bottom.


    ''Jeans under skirts? Somehow, it actually looks not bad,'' Evinmented.


    "Just call me Twelve," she murmured and sighed out: "Well, why did youe here?"


    "I wanted to see if I could use Time energy to dispel spells," Evin said and noticed that the weird effect on his voice had disappeared.


    "Ah, whatever, take it if you need to," Twelve grumbled slightly. Evin wondered what made the Authority so angry, but didn''t dare ask about it.


    "Oh, how was the meeting between you all?" Evin asked, curious about what happened to the organization and also trying to break the ice a bit.


    "Hmm, pretty much the same as always. The serious ones went back to their responsibilities, while I''m pretty sure some of them are still at Kena''s ce doing whatever," Twelve shrugged.


    "Any news from the organization?"


    "I don''t know much, but it seems like everyone from the organization ran away somewhere that the mortals can''t reach. Even though practically the strongest group possible under the Authorities led by Kal himself was sent after them whoever they were, their decisiveness is quitemendable," Twelve lightly shrugged her shoulders.


    ''That super-imposer from the North? Isn''t he basically an Authority at this point? I heard them talking about letting Kal rece St soon If that guy couldn''t catch them, then ain''t I fucked?'' Evin thought worriedly.


    "Don''t worry about it, I don''t think they will being back any time soon. Pretty sure it would take them a few dozen years at least," Twelve muttered.


    "Do you know anything about them?"


    Twelve smirked, pulled out a chair from somewhere and sat down.


    "Well, they seem toe from another World Obviously not Earth, since from what I heard from Kal, they seemed to have spaceships already," Twelve said with a dry chuckle.


    "Spaceships?"


    ''? Are we in the same world?''


    "I know, right? I couldn''t quite believe it when I first heard it as well. But it isn''t that surprising. Alvox itself is like a closed off little ind in the vast universe. It''s not that surprising for Otherworlders to have spaceships. Don''t worry about, though. They''ll never be as good as mother..." Twelve became a bit more lively when she spoke about the Empress.


    "Oh, have you ever seen the entirety of Alvox?" she suddenly asked andzily beckoned Evin closer with a silver hand.


    ''Why does this Twelve seem so different from before? The one who was constantly smiling at me with a cheshire smile...''


    Evin walked near her and let Twelve touch his forehead. An image of a continent appeared in his head and Evin could finally see the entirety of the Empire with his eyes.


    Sure enough, Evin could see an Empire divided into four different parts very clearly. The first thing he noticed was the general shape of the Empire which was a very round upside down triangle.


    The next thing he noticed was the Southern Inds and a tall, ck, needle-like thing located directly North of it, which was the center of the Empire.


    ''Is that Tower city?'' Evin wondered as he looked at the scattered inds on the bottom of the image. The Inds were scattered in a way that looked like it was cracked because of some external force. It didn''t look like it was created from a giant earthquake but more like the aftershock of an attack.


    But Evin decided to worry about itter, and looked at the other three countries.


    The border between the West and the North was as clear as a line, with the huge cliff that continued on for almost half the size of the Empire itself, before merging into the ground. The four Cataracts that ran along it were constantly shrouded in a deep mist as well.


    The West and the North looked very green and prosperous, with the North''s green looking more like Earth''s taigas and the West looking more like a grass in with the asional forests. But the border between the South and the West looked to be a lone and ratherrge ind between the two countries.


    From what Evin could see, the ground on said Ind waspletely barren and the amount of red and ck dots all over it was almost confusing.


    ''How many explosions must have happened there?'' Evin couldn''t help but think. Sighing, he looked at the East. A collection of huge blue Oases surrounded by a ring of green inside the vast sea of sand.


    Looking at it from the top, Evin really found it hard to imagine. As he sighed, the mental image disappeared from his mind.


    As his mind reappeared in the World of Time, he immediately noticed that something wasn''t right. He saw Twelve sighing loudly, the sigh echoing countless times in Evin''s ears for some reason..


    "You''re such a boring person Judging by how much different you feel, you must''ve spent all this fucking time training like crazy. What''s the point of doing all of that? You''re just going to fucking die, after all. Even if you live, you''ll live under the thumbs of the Empress, doing whatever she asks of you," This time, Evin could hear how Twelve''s voice was bing distorted, like how he first tried talking here. And the content of her talk seemed to be a lot off as well. His guts began to feel danger.


    Twelve suddenly stood up and gently caressed the boy''s cheek. Evin could feel that Twelve''s hands were abnormally cold,pared to a normal hand. But it wasn''t hard like a freezing one, on the contrary, it was very soft. Naturally, this sudden act of Twelve instilled a very thick feeling of terror in side Evin.


    ''What the fuck is happening?'' Evin thought with panic. He was very deeply scared and confused, but he somehow managed to not show it on the outside. Only the most observant of people could distinguish a tinge of fear taking root in Evin''s constricted pupils. At this point, he also realized that it was bing hard to move.


    "What do you want to do with all that power? Tell it to me, I''ll take care of eeeverything for you~"


    Twelve''s voice turned extremely high-pitched and began to grate on Evin''s ears. Evin''s muscles tensed and he could feel his body hardening.


    He could only watch with dread as Twelve''s nails seemed to elongate slightly, as she slowly drew a red line with it from Evin''s cheeks to his neck. Evin could feel his warm blood streaking through his body, but his body had seemingly turned to stone without him realizing it.


    "I just fucking want one thing from you in return," Twelve said as her hands reached Evin''s chest.


    "Your red-blood heart"


    Twelve''s nails slowly dug into Evin''s skin and started crawling deeper inside, like she wanted to w out Evin''s heart.


    He felt no pain, but that didn''t mean that he was fine. Far from it. In Evin''s mind, countless voices and sounds were ovepping, like he was a schizophrenic on the edge of insanity.

 Chapter 151: Twelve Jokes

    Chapter 151: Twelve Jokes


    Evin struggled to keep his head under his own control and desperately searched for a way out. In the end, he could only think of leaving the World, although there was a very low chance of it working, since the owner of said World was taking her time digging through his flesh towards his heart.


    But he truly didn''t have any other choices, since staying in the World of Time could only lead to doom. Evin gathered all his resolve and decisively willed to exit the World, despite the protests from the voices inside his head.


    Miraculously, Evin''s attempt was sessful and Evin could feel the World around him regaining color and the silhouette of Nasst beginning to move about slightly. Evin wanted to sigh in relief, but realized that his struggles hadn''t ended yet, since the voices and ringing kept on going inside his head, even after he had exited the World of Time.


    ''Is it some kind of mental attack?'' Evin thought with dread and searched for solutions again. He tried to look at Nasst in a helpless, pleading way, but realized that his body was still as stiff as a statue. Even his eyes seemed to be still.


    The only thing he could think of was to enter the World of Thoughts for the time being and search for a solution.


    Laboriously, Evin''s mind managed to enter the all-powerful World. But the familiar, intoxicating feeling didn''t appear in Evin''s mind and he could easily see that something was very wrong with everything.


    Everywhere around Evin, dark-blue seaweed-like vines seemed to be growing: on the walls, throughout the floor, and even on Evin''s own feet. But it wasn''t all. A terribly disturbing feeling came from Evin''s head. After a sharp pulse of pain on his eyes, a dark blue vein seemed to appear from the edges of Evin''s vision.


    And of course, he still had no control over his body, and still, the noise and voices persisted to bber on inside his head.


    Twelve cursed under her breath, as she tried her to best to whip up a portal to Evin''s location, despite the protest and the resistance that came from inside her head.


    [NO! NOOO! STOP! I''LL KILL YOU! I''LL FUCKING KILL YOU!] A high-pitched version of her voice constantly shrieked inside her head, but Twelve didn''t give it much thought and simply focused on the task at hand.


    ''Same fucking shit,'' she thought annoyedly.


    It wasn''t the first time this had happened, so Twelve was rtively calm, but it was still an annoying task. She supposed she couldpare to trying to build a tower of cards in the middle of a tornado, while some invisible person would try to poke at her side with a knife every few seconds. Well, she still had the help of her magic, so at least it wasn''t impossible.


    Eventually, she managed to sessfully build the portal and then she flew inside without hesitation. As her features appeared on the other side of the portal, she felt a rather powerful World of Storms attacking from her side. A brief appraisal told her that the attacker managed to create a type of Storm energy that had the properties of corrosion. It was quite impressive in her opinion.


    ''A super-imposer'' she thought briefly, before using Time energy to dispel the other''s attack. She didn''t bother with fine control and just threw an enormous amount at the enemy''s general direction. The corrosive winds disappeared into nothingness when they got into contact with the massive wave of Time energy. When one was in a hurry, a shy attack was best to assert dominance. Twelve could then feel the attacker trying to create a portal and escape, but ultimately fail due to the massive amount of Time energy in the small space.


    [USELESS! USELESS!] the shrieking voice went on in her head.


    Twelve looked around after appearing and found an old Ivari with two horns looking at her with fear and confusion in his eyes. Perhaps a tinge of curiousity as well. Next to him stood a boy of about seven, still like a statue, his wavering pupils were surrounded by countless tiny blue lines. Looking at the boy''s state, the her worrying heart settled slightly. Thankfully, she wasn''t toote.


    ''I wouldn''t want to fail mother''s task, after all''


    She floated towards the boy and looked at the Ivari.


    "Don''t bother." Twelve ordered in her most imposing tone and created a barrier of thick Time energy that surrounded her and the boy,pletely isting the World from the two.


    Finally managing to create some privacy, she sighed out with relief.


    "Why can''t you just watch and not act rashly? You should know that it''s pointless even if you seed," Twelve muttered out softly. She could feel that her control over her mind and body was stabilizing gradually. The sudden attack from one of the ''failures'' shocked and weakened her slightly, but Twelve knew that it wouldn''tst long. Her hands then took on a silver hue and she reached towards Evin''s forehead and saw the boy suspended in a pose identical to this one amidst a mass of writhing seaweed-like vines.


    "Her failed World I suppose that makes sense," Twelve murmured.


    She could bring Evin out of the ce very easily, but Twelve didn''t n to save the boy just yet, as this was a rare chance for him. Misfortune was often apanied by fortune, and a misfortune of this scale (rtive to Evin) obviously had its benefits. Unfortunately, it would only be fruitful if Evin himself was able to obtain it. And besides, her mother seemed interested in the boy, so Twelve didn''t mind helping him out a bit.


    Twelve decided that she would help Evin if it looked too dangerous, and perhaps send him a hint or two when needed. But for the time being, she didn''t mind theck of action. And it wasn''t like she was alone.


    [Please, just let me be! He''s just a nobody! I deserve to be in his ce! Please! I beg you! You''re sick of me as much as I''m sick of you, aren''t you? SAY SOMETHING! PLEASE!] the one that tried rebelling, Fourth Joke (or better known as Four), was pleading now.


    Twelve scoffed at her. She really didn''t know why Four always made such a huge scene out of everything.


    ''Guess she''s just bored...''


    Twelve also didn''t know what Four was going to do even after this little escape attempt seeded. It wasn''t like The Empress was going to leave her free to roam this tiny world. At best she would''ve caught her and put her back inside Twelve, or she would''ve killed Four as an example for the others.


    But obviously, Twelve''s mother wasn''t someone so barbaric.


    The other ten ''failures'' were silently murmuring in the background, some with an expression of worry on their faces, some of them uncaring, some of them asking Twelve to not punish the one shrieking on the ground too badly.


    Twelve felt bad for the ''failures'', she truly did. It wasn''t like they asked to be brought upon this World. But there was a reason they were locked inside her for safekeeping. Everything happened for a reason. Twelve''s mother, The Empress, told her to keep the failures safe.


    That was reason enough for Twelve.


    And besides, it wasn''t like Twelve treated them badly. She let them take turns to experience the outside World once in a while, letting them live out their preferred lives.


    ''But I suppose they''re not satisfied with that The others look like they have nothing to do with this, like they''ve forgotten that they all tried something simr at one point in their existence. Perhaps I''ve been too lenient on them'' Twelve sighed, shook her head and focused on the boy.

 Chapter 152: The Surreal Place

    Chapter 152: The Surreal ce


    The frightened and despairing Evin could only wait motionlessly. After he entered the World of Thoughts, he realized that there was something very, very wrong with everything. Not just the dark-blue vines, but literally everything. There were no silhouettes in this foreign World of Thoughts, no boost to his thoughts, no feeling of clear-mindedness. Instead, an unrelentingly oppressive feeling of eeriness and decay filled every pocket of air, further enhanced a loud rumbling noise that ured every few minutes.


    Moreover, Evin couldn''t exit this frightening ce as well. He was stuck here for almost two hours at this point, unable to move a single part of his body. Thankfully, the voices and sounds in his head died out after a while, so Evin wasn''t in danger of going crazy. Yet. The dark-blue lines in his vision still writhed about disturbingly, slowly but surely chipping away at Evin''s mind.


    But finally, a change urred. Evin''s frozen body suddenly sprawled onto the vine riddled ground with one of the vines going st under his knees. Evin was shocked for a moment, but it very quickly turned into hope.


    ''I can move again!'' Evin thought, finally seeing a ray of hope in the dark tunnels.


    Evin hurriedly stood up on his feet and ripped off the vines that were growing onto his feet. A wet, ripping sound would go off every time Evin teared a vine apart, and an almost ck liquid, with a tiny glow of blue and red would ooze out of the ripped vines. Disgusted, Evin wiped the liquid on the drier part of the walls.


    After calming down, he realized that the slithering movement in his eyes stilled as well. They weren''tpletely gone, unfortunately, but Evin wasn''t going toin about it now.


    "Where is this ce?" he murmured softly. From the structure of the ce, he could tell that he was still in Nasst''s test room, but everything detail looked slightly worn down and crumbled. The paint on the metal beams that supported the test room had peeled off, littering the ground alongside the mass of vines.


    No World had this kind of effect, as far as Evin remembered. And it was especially confusing, since Evin''s goal was to enter the World of Thoughts, the arguably the ''cleanest'' World of them all. At least it wasn''t constantly burning, like the World of Fire.


    The only possible oues he could think of were that either the World of Thoughts went to shit, or something in his mind went to shit. But Evin leaned towards thetter conclusion.


    ''Everything went very wrong after Twelve touched my forehead, and showed me that map of Alvox. Right after I was done seeing the picture, Twelve''s personality did aplete 180, and she started to rip open my heart, while my head was riddled with countless voices'' Evin remembered and realized that something must have happened while he was checking through that map.


    Thankfully, Evin''s attempt to escape the World was sessful, and he ended up in the main World. But even then, his head was still afflicted by the voices and the sounds. Evin decided to enter the World of Thoughts for some reason at that point as well.


    ''Why did I do that?''


    As far as he knew, there wasn''t a single smidge of information in his brain, telling him that entering the World of Thoughts would solve these kinds of problems. The idea appeared out of nowhere, and Evin clung onto it like his life depended on it. It was almost like the thought wasn''t his own And now, Evin was stuck in this creepy ce.


    ''I should go out and take a look around,'' Evin decided and walked out of Nasst''s mansion.


    Outside, Evin saw an unforgettable sight. A giant dark-blue colored ''tree'' made of countless vines intertwining with each other was looming like a huge mushroom cloud under the monotonally grey sky. Its size could bepared to a fifty-story skyscraper. Moreover, it bloomed these disturbing blue flowers which had the shapes of sunflowers, but in the center there would be a human face. And it constantly spewed out some glowing blue substance into the air.


    Under the tree, were the countless buildings of the Tribe. All broken down and battered beyond recognition. Most of the building''s colors turned pale white, only the blue vines of the giant tree giving them some color. Evin could also tell that the buildings near the tree were the most unchanged. But the ones that were further away from it were almost allpletely crumbled down, with the furthermost ones all turned to white ash-like dust.


    The grey sky continued on to the horizon, before its colors gradually whitened out and merged into the pale-white, decaying ground.


    "Fuck" Evin clumsily ran towards the white ''edge of this World'', his feet digging into the ash like ground.


    Surreal could not begin to describe the feeling that filled Evin. In front of him wasplete whiteness. Evin was almost fearful to turn back, lest he find that the buildings and the giant tree behind him gone. Evin couldn''t even take a step further, since he had no idea where this whiteness would lead him to.


    Then, like a dam that had been broken, primal fear began to take over Evin''s heart, with only a single thought filling the entirety of his head.


    ''How do I get out of here?''


    Millions of different voices seemed to repeat this sentence in his mind, the previous schizophrenia incident almost cutepared to it.


    Evin was very close to going crazy. It was this close. He knew it very well, since he personally experienced in many times. But a familiar voice, of the one who was allegedly the reason why he found himself in this situation, was the one thing that pulled his sanity back to the safer areas.


    "Burn the tree. Beware the night"


    Twelve''s emotionless voice echoed in his mind like the morning bell,pletely silencing the rest of the voices.


    It was a bit forced, but Evin calmed down.


    "Burn the tree, burn the tree," Evin chanted as he stared at the gigantic tree.


    "How the fuck do I burn anything here?"


    "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Motherfucker!"


    Evin''s old habits of talking to himself reappeared. As for the cussing, he just really wanted to do it. After cussing to his heart''s content, he sat onto the dusty ground and took a deep breath.


    Evin didn''t feel despair. What Evin was most scared of was to be leftpletely alone. With no one to look at him, and no one to care. Like on Earth.


    But this time, there was a spectator. Twelve knew about his situation and was observing him. Even though she put him into this situation in the first ce, Evin could forget it for the time being, since she was the only thing that connected Evin to reality.


    "How do I burn that? Does it even burn?" Evin pondered out loud.


    "Perhaps?" Evin wondered and tried to absorb mana into his mana-core. The amount he had absorbed was truly pitiful, but it was there nheless. Mana.


    "Pity I can''t do much with it"


    There was mana here, which meant that this ce really wasn''t a World. Evin''s eyes then fell onto his storage ring. A trickle of his mana went inside the magical device but Evin could not for the love of god ess its insides. It almost seemed fake to Evin.


    ''Then what about my shadows?''


    Evin thought and tried to exchange some mana for Dark energy, but something was blocking Evin from essing the other Worlds.


    ''Guess I can''t seek help from Enri and the others''


    His channeling artifact wasn''t working either, so he had to work something out with raw mana, or find another method of burning the tree.


    Evin sighed and pondered about how to set the tree on fire. He guessed that he should perhaps look for a match or something in the city, since magic wasn''t an option for the time being. He should also need some food and whatnot...

 Chapter 153: The Pale World

    Chapter 153: The Pale World


    ...


    Evin sat silently on one of the Giant tree''s roots, pondering how to burn it down to the ground.


    Almost half a day had passed inside the Pale World (temporarily named so by Evin), with Evin entering every building of the decaying Ekhri Tribe, searching for things that he could use as some kind of a fire source. Sadly, there weren''t any unique objects inside the buildings, except for Nasst''s mansion and the ces that Evin frequented: The cafeteria, some of the shops that Evin went to, Zorrik''s room, etc.


    All the other ces and buildings werepletely empty, except for some few things that Evin would expect in a house. A bed, a chair, a light source, and a table. All of them in the same shape and size. It was a very haunting and traumatizing experience to say the least.


    Evin half expected some spots in the city to not have any buildings, or anything, but thankfully, the same thing as the furniture seemed to happen. The parts of the buildings never seen by Evin were seemingly constructed in ordance to his imagination.


    At this point, it was obvious that the whole city was based on Evin''s own memories. Plus of course, the added decay.


    This meant that the only things that could burn were the wood and burnable materials that were used to build the buildings But Evin wasn''t sure if they would be useful at all.


    After finishing this little tour, Evin realized a few things.


    First of all, the white ashes, as Evin decided to call them, were a definite no-no. After Evin sat on the white ash like thing and got up, he found that the spots where his pants touched the ash had be more worn out and pale after he tried to pat the white ash off.


    Moreover, Evin''s hands that touched the white ash had also be drier and more lifeless as well. Evin plucked his hair out and put it on the white ash, to see it bing white and shriveled at a very rming pace.


    In hindsight, Evin was just d he didn''t sprawl on it like an idiot.


    One more thing he noticed, was that Evin didn''t feel neither tired, nor hungry in this ce. He ran about for half a day, going through every little house and building, but he never felt the need to sit down and rest for even a second. But his mind did feel tired after it all, slightly. This greatly reminded him of the time he spent as a spirit.


    In fact, it was exactly the same as the time he spent as a spirit, except for the fact that he could touch and move things. He also felt more powerful,pared to his state on Earth. Perhaps it was because he was a mage now and had mana, or perhaps it was because of this ce, but one thing was certain. The glowing blue spores, or whatever they were that the tree spewed out, they were very helpful to Evin.


    At first Evin was quite wary of the tree and anything that had to do with it, especially with the human face shaped flowers, but he could feel that his body as a spirit was being strengthened gradually with prolonged contact with the blue vine-like tree and the spores of the flowers.


    There was also the blue ring around his vision, but he had gotten used to it at this point.


    Upon closer inspection, the flowers could be described like dark blue colored sunflowers, but instead of the brown head there was a literal human face on it. As far as Evin could tell, there was no two flowers with identical human faces. There were females, children, old people, you name it. But as much as he was weirded out by the stuff, he was sure of one thing.


    "I really don''t think I should burn this tree if I want to survive here"


    Evin wasn''t 100 % sure, but he was very confident that burning down this tree was tantamount to suicide. Without it, he would be exposed to the corrosive decaying features of the white ash, and would just slowly die out. But his only hint at leaving this ce were Twelve''s words.


    "Perhaps Twelve was lying to me? And what is wrong with Twelve in the first ce?"


    Evin thought deeply about Twelve''s behavior. When he had first entered the World of Time when he was a toddler, he was scared away by a high-pitched grating voice that he heard when he was leaving. Evin was now sure that it was Twelve. He just wasn''t sure which Twelve was it.


    ''Probably Psycho Twelve''


    The next time he saw her was when the Authorities were meeting and Twelve was sitting next to Two Tales with a cheshire smile. Evin didn''t see her talking to the other Authorities during the meeting, but she did talk with him a bit afterwards, when Evin was asking stuff from Hin.


    At that time, Twelve acted rtively normally. Her tone sounded slightlyzy and annoyed, with a slight smile on her face.


    But when Hin and Veidrakar left, her slight smile turned into a much wider one and she started to stare at Evin a bit differently. Evin didn''t mind it that much at the time, but there was a clear difference to how she acted.


    The problem became even more apparent when Evin met her thest time.


    She first came in a frilly dress that was widely used in the Western Kingdom, but she immediately changed it to simpler clothes from Earth. Her way of speaking was also simr to how she talked when she was with Hin and Veidrakar.


    But after her silver hand touched Evin''s head, her personality changed drastically and her tone of voice was different as well.


    ''Then everything went to shit and now I''m stuck in this situation''


    But Evin was sure that the voice Evin heard at the edge of the city was normal Twelve. This was the reason why he was willing to trust Twelve''s words and try to burn the tree down. But the tree was essential to his survival here, so Evin was stuck between a rock and a hard ce.


    "Perhaps I have to burn it down in one go But it''s not like the tree is easy to burn as well," Evin thought with despair.


    Evin was used to calling it a tree, but the thing really wasn''t a tree. He cut open one of the vines, and found that it was more like a vein that pumped whatever this thick, dark-blue liquid was.


    If he had to make an educated guess, the seaweed-like vines should beposed of at least 95% water by volume. This meant that they were even more watery than watermelons.


    But it was still shaped like a tree and acted like a tree with its flowers and roots and everything, so it was quite confusing. But Evin was sure of one thing:


    ''At this point, if I try to set fire to the thing, it would more likely boil, rather than burn''


    So Evin had to find out a way to heat up the atmosphere in hopes to get the water percentage inside the ''tree'' to die out. Perhaps it would be able to burn when it bes 70% or close to it. Normal trees usually had a water percentage of 50% after all.


    One way to do that was to increase the heat of the surroundings. A hot ce would have a ton of molecules and air particles running amok, creating heat through movement. But if Evin was able to control molecules, he would probably be god at this point. When he used the World of Fire to burn things, it mostly involved willpower.


    The other option that Evin had was to clear up this perpetually grey sky and shine some fucking sunlight on this wretchednd. He knew that there was a sun, or something simr that shone light around here, since Twelve told him to beware the night and also he could notice that as time passed, the shinier parts of the grey sky moved about normally.


    When Evin first came to this ce, the sky shined brightest right on top of Evin, but as time passed, it slowly moved westward, or at least what Evin thought was the West. And now, it was almost beyond the horizon.


    And if Evin could clear up the clouds somehow, it would help him greatly in drying up the tree. There was a reason why most nts couldn''t grow in the desert.


    But that was a problem forter. Now, Evin was most worried about what would happen at night. His n was to hole up in Nasst''s mansion and maybe peek outside to see what was happening.


    He had also spent some time, trying to ess any of the Worlds, but his hope to use magic for the time being was destined to be destroyed. As long as he didn''t somehow learn how to use raw mana, then there really wasn''t much hope for him to fight his way out of a desperate situation.

 Chapter 154: Ashen Giants

    Chapter 154: Ashen Giants


    But it wasn''t a good idea topletely give up on stamina and energy. Currently, he was recharging himself near the tree. As he waited, Evin thought about how everyone else might react to him disappearing suddenly. Or was he just standing in spot, drooling like an idiot?


    Perhaps Twelve did something to the flow of time in this Pale World, like she did in the World of Time?


    "That would be great if it was so, since I''m pretty sure I''m going to spend a lot of time inside this ce" Evin muttered.


    Since the World didn''t really have that big of an effect on Evin''s mind, there was no worry to his mind bing dumb due to prolonged time spent inside a World, but obviously, that didn''t mean Evin wanted to spend a lot of time in here.


    Sighing, he got up and headed towards Nasst''s mansion.


    Inside, he searched for a spot where there was a spore spewing human-faced flower. Thankfully, he found one with the face of a middle-aged female in his original room, so he could survive the night with some rtivefort. He began to fortify the room with the best of his abilities, using some wood and furniture he brought in from a different room. Evin also brought a spear simr to his own from inside the mansion, hoping he wouldn''t need to use it.


    Night came closer and closer, with Evin patiently waiting for any sign, his heart thumping in the background. It was a thrilling experience and Evin really wished for Twelve to say something to keep him calm, but unfortunately, the girl didn''t seem all that interested.


    Finally, it turnedpletely dark. Evin didn''t have any problems seeing, thanks to his affinity with darkness but he could feel that there was something slightly different about everything.


    ncing through a small space he had left on the window, Evin could see that there really wasn''t any movement around. Only the giant tree seemed to glow a bit brighter in the dark, its haunting flowers constantly emitting particles of blue just like fireflies in the midnight ins.


    "Oh, how beautiful it is," he whispered


    Evin gazed at the beautiful sight for a while, before he felt like he was getting hypnotized. He then realized that there was something wrong in the room. Panicking, he turned around to see something pale blue sh in the corner of his eyes for a second to then disappear.


    The only notable thing in the room was the human-faced flower which was spewing out the dark blue stuff incessantly.


    "Fuck" Evin muttered and then looked around and held the spear tighter in his hands. It was a bit unwieldy, since usually Evin relied on the Heavy World to reduce its weight, but it did give him some courage and a feeling of safety.


    Evin then turned and nced outside again. The beautiful scenery created by the giant tree was still going on without much issue, but it didn''t dazzle Evin like before. Then, some slight movement at the edge of the town grabbed Evin''s attention.


    The whitendscape seemed to take on life, clumsily fluttering in the air, before the collection of dust and ashes turned into a number of colossal humanoid beings. The scene reminded Evin of the time he asked Karan to try and take on a human form, and the skinshifter struggling to keep a humanoid form, with bits and pieces of his body floating around, making a shimmering sound.


    The newly created creatures seemed confused for a second, their supposed heads looking around the surroundingndscape in a slow, unhurried manner. When their gaze fell on one of their kin, they would look at them with some surprise, before turning away with disinterest.


    But when its head faced the Giant tree, an weirdly hateful expression would be apparent in its ''face'', after which it would just begin to loiter around the edge of the city alongside the other Dust creatures. Never moving too far away from the town, but never approaching the center as well.


    When the creature moved, some of its ash-like particles would brush by the barely standing buildings at the edge of the town, whittling it down even further. This fact was enough for Evin to decide to never get close to these dusty giants. It also gave him a sense of urgency, as he could guess that these creatures would eventually reach the center of the town after whittling down the surrounding buildings.


    Though Evin would have to observe these creatures a few more times to make his final conclusion.


    "Those things are quite scary, but not really dangerous if they don''te close enough. There should be something else going on around here" Evin murmured and thought of the strange presence he felt inside the room a minute ago. As for worrying about whether the giants woulde and fuck him up, Evin refused to think about it, considering the state of his mind.


    Evin threw the matter of the dust giants to the back of his mind, closed the gap in the window and silently sat onto the bed, which he had moved to the corner of the room opposite from the door and a few dozen steps away from the window. If anything wanted toe inside, they wouldn''t be able to pass by Evin''s eyes.


    Since he didn''t feel neither sleepy, nor tired, Evin was confident he could keep this up for the whole night. The only thing Evin was worried about was the toll on his mind. Thinking of random ways to burn the tree, Evin passed the time in silence.


    Half the night passed like without much incident. Evin would asionally nce at the Ashen Giants on the horizon and the rest of the town, trying to spot something different. He had stopped worrying about the brief presence in the room for the time being, since there really wasn''t much point to it.


    The rest of the time, he would sit on his bed, silently trying his hand at bending mana to his will. A despairingly fruitless task, he might add.


    Evin was reminded of the time he was trying to first work the magic out when he was a child, when he didn''t know anything about the Worlds and the Authorities. Constantly imagining some kind of miracle happening in the background, it could almost be said that those days were filled with his delusions.


    This time wasn''t much different. Evin would try his best to make the mana inside his body work like the World Energies. The only thing he learned was that the mana and World energies worked very differently. If thetter could bepared to drinking bottled water, then the former was like a trying to drink rock like it was water. No matter how much Evin tried to bend mana to his will, it would just flow randomly through his body and the air. He could gather it and move it about, but never change it.


    Giving up on the mana thing for the time being, Evin walked up to take a peek through the windows.


    This time, he noticed something different.

 Chapter 155: The Birth of the Tree

    Chapter 155: The Birth of the Tree


    The amount of blue spores the tree was emitting had lessened greatly, and the night seemed a shade darkerpared to thest time Evin looked outside. The Ashen Giants were still loitering around at the edge of the town, unbothered by the changes that were happening to the tree.


    Time passed slowly as Evin looked curiously at whatever was happening to the ''tree''. The flowers stopped spewing out stuff, but they''ve be much more brighter, making the tree seem like a huge Christmas tree, decorated with glowing human shaped masks surrounded by flower petals. Moreover, the shapes of faces seemed to be ever more distinct by the minute.


    ''Feels like a human would pop out of the thing and plop down to the ground...'' Evin shook his head and threw this ridiculous idea from his mind. He continued to observe the changes that were happening to the tree.


    The flower petals became brighter and brighter, but the tree and faces were bing a shade darker. This urrence inevitably caught the attention of the Ashen Giants. The colossal masses of ash and dust all motionlessly looked at the tree in unison. Evin could feel a sense of determination and resolve from the ''expressions'' of the giants.


    As Evin was wondering what was going to happen next, a loud pop sounded from the tree, followed by a continuous hiss. Aside from the sounds he made and the almost silent rustling of the Ashen Giants, it was the first sound Evin heard in the Pale World.


    Evin looked at the spot where the sound came from and saw one of the flowers discharging something like crazy. Looking at it closer, Evin realized that this time some pale blue gaseous substance was being blown out from under the flower''s petals.


    As Evin was squinting his eyes, trying to distinguish some clearer details, suddenly, with a squelching sound, two hands, drenched in dark blue liquid, slithered out from the two sides of the face. Something about this movement greatly triggered Evin''s fear of leaking, as he became stuck in ce, cold sweat dripping through his back.


    The hands then plucked the petals around it and shoved it all into the face''s mouth, as it greedily munched on them.


    Pop! Pop! Pop!


    The other flowers began to bloom all around, showing the same phenomena as the first one: two wet hands slithering out and then feeding the face with its own petals.


    After the faces finished feeding on the petals, their features turned from dark blue to bright pale blue, and it became much more detailed and expressive. Their brows were wrinkled, and they had a struggling expression like they were hurting somewhere.


    Then, the hands grew longer, and using the blue vines as support, they began to push out a pale, naked body out of the giant tree, which just floated eerily in midair. The hands with the female face pulled out a female body, while the male faces had a male body, there were even some children and some other deformed people floating about as well.


    The hole on the tree where the people came from sagging down like oldbia. The hole then expanded and contracted like it was breathing, with dark-blue liquid slowly dripping from its bottom. This disgusted and riled Evin greatly, but he managed to gather his focus on the more immediate problem.


    After they were out of the tree, they began to open their eyes. Every single one of them had a dark blue ring around their pale, pupilless eyes.


    Just like the Giants, Evin could see them confusedly looking around, trying to guess at what was happening around them. But Evin didn''t really have the leisure to worry about that.


    "Pop!" sounded the flower inside Evin''s room.


    Then came the hiss. At this point, Evin had turned around, and was holding his spear with a wavering expression. He was wondering if he should run away, or stay to watch. It was a great chance for Evin to face his fears and learn exactly what would happen if he were to meet one of these pale floating people face to face.


    ''Who knows? Maybe they weren''t as bad as I''m making them out to be?''


    The squelching sound came from the flower and the two slender hands began to feed the mouth. The silent room was filled with the sounds of chewing and asional swallow.


    ''Fuck this,'' Evin decided and wanted to run away, but realized that he put a pile of furniture in the doorway.


    ''Fuck! Idiot!''


    Evin then steeled his heart, held his spear tightly in his hands and hoped for the best.


    The hands then began to push out a naked pale-blue body of the female, which then began to sway about gently in the air.


    Evin could see the woman''s body twitch almost unnoticeably, traces of goosebumps appearing all over her body, with even her drooping nipples harden and be erect in a second. She then assumed a pained expression, after which she let out a soft whimper.


    Finally, the woman''s eyes fluttered rapidly, before opening in a slow, tired manner.


    After fully waking up, her blue ringed eyes looked around her surroundings and then began feeling her own body with a perplexed face. To Evin, it looked almost like the female didn''t understand how she was alive and moving.


    Inevitably, the woman''s gaze fell upon Evin. An unbelieving expression appeared on her face, before something inside her seemed to break down abruptly and with a thud, she fell to the floor. Veins began to pop out on her forehead, the blue ring on her eyes seemed to be bigger, and a low snarl came from her mouth. She looked at Evin hatefully before dashing towards him, screeching loudly in the process.


    Thankfully, Evin was prepared to fight a long time ago and easily dodged her mad tackle. The woman crashed into the walls with a thud, growling in pain. Evin then swung his spear towards her neck with all his might, in an attempt to end this fight as soon as possible.


    But who would have guessed that the de on Evin''s spear would phase through the woman, putting Evin dangerously out of bnce. The woman got back on her feet again and was seemingly preparing to swipe at Evin with nails.


    Evin didn''t notice it before, but her nails were much longer and sharper than any normal human could have.


    Evin let go of his spear and prepared to dodge the woman''s attack. But without the help of the Worlds strengthening and reducing his weight, Evin was nothing but a simple seven-year-old. The reach and speed of an adult woman was far superior than him. Not to mention a crazed and almost mutated she was.


    The swipe hit Evin''s head, and the boy could feel his body rolling away limply a few meters to the side. As Evin was dazedly lying on the floor, facing the ceiling, he could hear the woman running at him with her loud steps andnding on top of him. Evin eyed the woman fearfully, and tried to struggle free from under the woman, but the woman didn''t budge and just proceeded to w at Evin''s chest with her nails.


    The expected blood and gore didn''t happen, but something much more concerning happened.

 Chapter 156: The Age of False Champions

    Chapter 156: The Age of False Champions


    Sparks of light began to scatter all about and Evin could feel a cavity appearing in the middle of his chest. He screamed in pain and thrashed about even more violently with his tiny hands, but his efforts were doomed to fail. Amidst the pain and confusion, he eventually lost consciousness.


    The edges of a blinding blue core appeared from inside Evin''s body and the woman stopped digging further looking at it with envy and want.


    Evin''s consciousness came back to his body at this time. For whatever reason, he didn''t feel pain, but he was still pretty out of it, his mindzily remembering the time when La began to rip apart his body. At that time, he also didn''t bleed normally, but instead found himself in a simr state to today: with bits and pieces of his body missing, and Evin himself feeling very, very tired.


    Evin''s eyes saw the woman who was on top of him. He wondered what she would do next.


    ''And how long was Twelve going to watch me suffer? Is she actually watching me?''


    ''If you''re out there watching... Please help... Don''t think I can get out of this situation by myself...''


    Stray thoughts filled his head. But eventually, it led to the big question.


    ''Am I really going to die like this? After an unfortunate ident that involved someone who was much too powerfulpared to me Without even understanding what exactly happened and why it happened as well. Maybe I should''ve been more careful, like Rith told me to...''


    He wanted to chuckle, but only some dry breath was exhaled out of his mouth.


    ''I feel that my life was always a joke on the hands of these absurdly powerful entities. Whoever the god was back on Earth The Cosmics, the Kingdom, the Tribes, literally everyone who could read minds, I had no choice but to dance at the palms. And even worse, I had to do it willingly and happily. Because there''s no other choice for a weakling like me other than to hide under the strong''s shadows and hope they don''t get bored of me''


    ''Even now, my only chance at survivalys inside Twelve''s palms''


    ''Aren''t there moments in stories, where a character is lying on his deathbed, but after an exciting, heartbreaking, and utterly bullshit resolution of an inner conflict, they suddenly muster the strength and courage to ovee whatever problem they currently face... ''


    ''Shit... How do I even manage to ovee this problem with my whole body paralyzed? The most I can offer is a self-deprecating joke...'' he smiled weakly.


    Evin wasn''t allowed to think further as the woman seemed to snap out of her daze and began to resolutely dig at her own body. She dug at her heart without care and fear, with sparks of light flying about everywhere in the room. Eventually, she ripped a dark-blue orb out of her chest.


    Carrying the orb very carefully in her hands, the woman shoved it inside Evin''s body, towards the boy''s own bright-blue core, merging them together.


    Weirdly, anticipation filled Evin''s muddles mind, but the sheer amount of information that filled his head knocked him out once more.


    ...


    ...


    Evin stood on one of the many watchtowers of Khemon City, gazing at the horizon, her raven single braid fluttering in the wind behind her. With anxiety, she anticipated the inevitable appearance of the army of horror and despair. The noise of a crowd buzzed from beneath her, a squad of guards were trying their hardest to herd the mass of people with their rusty spears, shouting threats and insults all the same.


    Farmers, merchants, servants, random peddlers and even some more well-off citizens... everyone in the radius of three days around Khemon had decided toe and hole up inside the city, thinking its tall stone walls might protect them from the approaching enemy. At first, they had orderly lined up at the city''s gates, but due to the news from this morning, that stated that the army was in a day''s reach from Khemon, they had begun to panic and lose the order that was maintained throughout these days.


    ''They expect a siege Pity,'' Evin thought in her head as he watched as one of the guards pick a farmer who seemed to carry arge amount of wheat in his cart.


    "You with the cart, you''re allowed inside. Hurry!"


    The farmer happily obliged and ordered his children to push the cart inside.


    "Shit on your mother! Why these bastards can go in, but not us? My family paid tribute to the Khemon council for generations! My empty house is inside the damn streets if the North quarter, you know that?! I was just out for a bit and came back and suddenly I find my own city refusing to let me in!" one of the men, a rather well-off merchant from the looks of it, shouted and tried to kick at the farmer who was trying to pull his cart inside.


    The farmer dodged aside, and Evin was able to see a slight sneer forming on his face, as a guard snatched the merchant''s arms and then gave him a heavy blow to his face. He then followed it by a sharp stab by the butt-end of his spear after the man fell down stumbling.


    "Council''s orders!" the guard spat out emotionlessly, and red at the others threateningly. The crowd red back at the guard disdainfully, but did not dare act out of line, considering the guards'' weapons.


    A bit of swift violence could save a lot of trouble in the right times. Though one did have to be careful not to overdo it, as the crowd might feel a bit too threatened and explode anyway.


    But it was still a bit unlucky for the one who was made to be an example.


    "Shit on your council" The punched man got up, wiped his bloody nose, and went towards a woman and a boy at the edge of the crowd. The woman began to argue and urge the man, but received only a p to her face, as the man dered that they were going to leave towards the next city.


    Evin was quite jealous that this family was able to leave behind this doomed city. Perhaps they would hear stories of what will happen to this city and decide to flee even further. She wasn''t optimistic that they would be able to run away in the end, she still wondered how far they could get.


    The crowd of people then resumed its bustling activities. These people expected a siege, but Evin knew that there wouldn''t really be much of a siege to speak of.


    The approaching army would gather at one of the gates and then raze the city down to ashes with their weird magic, just like all the other great cities that happened to be in their way. Evin didn''t know where they were headed in the end, but she was convinced that they wouldn''t stop here.


    Evin could shout this out to the crowd below, but she knew that none of them would believe her. All the people here still didn''t believe that the approaching army consisted of the reanimated corpses and remains of the armies that faced their current master in the past, the Overlord of the Undying. If any of them knew differently, they would be hurrying towards some other ce, any ce that was far, far away from the army of undead. Sadly, all these people below thought that it was some kind of made up story by the enemies to trick them into surrendering.


    It was understandable, since there really weren''t any concrete evidence about this supposed army of undead.


    But Evin knew exactly how real this army of undying were. She personally saw the army obliterate the thousand champions of Akkadi, the Hero of Sun, and then turn the dead enemies into one of their own, strengthening itself even further.


    And the Hero Akkadi himself wasn''t some weakling either. At the time, he was considered the strongest of the Fourteen Heroes and his army was considered the most elite and discipled of the World. But, Akkadi was killed in a glorious battle between him and another three turned Heroes of Nosk Empire that fell at the hand of the ''Overlord of the Undying''. Akkadi shone brightly like the sun, overpowering the others at first, but he was like the bright day: imposing and dominant at first, but his powers couldn''t help but wither out when night came. On the other hand, the undying Heroes knew no exhaustion, nor enervation. After a continuous fight of five days and nights, the undead Empty Knight''s Void Sword found its target atst.


    That fight was so unbelievable, that Evin could not help but feel her own insignificance as an Arch-Hex. During her long life thatsted almost a century, she never imagined that Divine Essence users could be so powerful. Just like these people flocking to Khemon city, she thought of the Fourteen Heroes as exaggerated figures to keep the people scared and in control.


    But thinking of the aftershocks of the four heroes'' attacks, all of which were strong enough to kill her countless times over if she was actually there, Evin was forced to change her mind.


    And the scariest part was, that fight didn''t even feature the master of those three undead heroes. Evin didn''t know how fast the fight would''ve ended if ''she'' decided to participate in it...


    Thinking of the mastermind behind this wave of undead mages, the most powerful Hex that ever existed, Evin couldn''t help but shudder involuntarily. The greatest conflict of the Age of False Champions awakened a monster that should not have been disturbed.


    "The ever-triumphant Princess of Denial," Evin murmured out loud.

 Chapter 157: Perdrakar

    Chapter 157: Perdrakar


    Evin remembered how before the mad dragon Perdrakarid waste to the South and the Heroes had gathered to y him, the people would often joke about the Princess'' name, guessing at its origins, most of the being just borderline childish insults.


    But when she thought about it a bit deeply, it wasn''t hard to guess why. The Free Country of Von was lodged between the three biggest countries of that time: The Holy Land of Sun, The Hexmagi Alliance, and the Nosk Triumvirate. Obviously, most would think its existence a joke, one which only lived on thanks to the grace and mercy of the three giants. But deep inside they all felt it was only a matter of time before one of the big countries decided to colonize it into their own.


    And truly, there were attempts. The Hexmagi alliance sent one of its new Oathbound ve armies to test the waters against the small country of Von, but mysteriously, their army disappeared right before it was able to reach the outskirts of the borders of Von.


    Everyone was confused, but they reasoned that the Princess of Denial had moved herself to take care of the threat. Even though everyone made jokes of her, they knew she was still one of the Fourteen Heroes of the World. It wasn''t that difficult for a Hex of that power to wipe out a small army. Especially one made of mindless ves.


    But instead of feeling awe, everyone thought it a big joke. That one of the great legendary Heroes had to act personally against a mere army of ves. Moreover, the country of Von didn''t demand any exnation for the attempted invasion, nor requested the Hexmagi Alliance to offer a political apology. The situation turned into an even greater joke.


    The public didn''t give it much thought afterwards, but the surrounding Empires still acted against her asionally. Each time, they would send a stronger army, but none were able to survive to tell the tale. They would just disappear into thin air, as if they never existed in the first ce. Even the ones apanied by powerful Magi and Hexes, which had top-tier life-saving artifacts and other Divine instruments disappeared without exception.


    At this point, the mocking voices against the country became silent. None was able to understand how and why these armies kept disappearing. Fear grasped the hearts of the other residents, as they urged their leaders to stop prodding this mysterious country. The armies of ves and cannon fodder were thinning after all. If this continued, their own men and brothers would be forced to attack this mysterious foe. The leaders of the three Empires agreed and decided that it was probably best to keep the Princess unbothered in her realm.


    That was almost fifty years ago. At that point, Evin was still running around the Alliance''snds, trying to fulfill her master''s orders and tasks. She heard the stories then, but she was a bit too busy to care. She even scoffed at the ridiculousness of it all.


    ''Oh, how I was wrong...''


    If she had known about what would happen in the future, she would have begged at Von''s gates to let her be their citizen.


    ''And all this... because of some fucking dragon who couldn''t take his human mate dying normally. There was absolutely zero reason for him to go crazy'' Evin thought annoyedly.


    Forty years ago, the dragon Perdrakar''s human mate died of old age, putting the great being into great anguish. Evin really wasn''t sure if he was truly anguished, or if he was just enjoying the attention from others.


    The dragon was, after all, widely famed for his love for attention and vanity. He dered everything he did to the World and would asionally fly all over the world in his pure white dragon-form, he was like the biggest celebrity of Alvox.


    ''The Dragon of Extinguishing Light, Perdrakar. Revered and hated by all''


    Most of the time, dragons lived an extremely low-key lifestyle, with almost all of them always assuming some kind of human form and either living silently in some city, or cave, or whatever.


    Only Perdrakar and the Sage Dragon, who was the leader of the Hexmagi Alliance, bothered to mingle with human society.


    In any case, after his lover''s death, even the leaders of the countries offered him tributes, expressing their sadness at the unfortunate event. Even though the dragon was a hassle to deal with, it wasn''t a bad thing to get in his good books.


    But for some reason, Perdrakar dered that the world was at fault for his World''s death, and nothing in life had meaning anymore. He would rather just destroy everything. He then dered that he would wait for the Fourteen heroes at the Southern wastnds and if they didn''te to y him, he would begin his bloody conquest starting from the smaller countries. It was quite obvious that he was just relishing the attention at this point. Perhaps he wanted to see the most powerful members of humanity kneeling at his feet, begging him to stop this madness.


    Well, Perdrakar would have never guessed that the Fourteen heroes, lead by the Sage Dragon, would actually gather with the intention of killing him. Supposedly the Sage Dragon decided that someone so powerful, yet so unstable wasn''t worth keeping alive due to the risk.


    But the problem was, Perdrakar was actually strong enough to back his high-profile lifestyle. Noticing the group''s intent, he locked the Sage Dragon down without caring for the damage done to his body, and breathed out his signature Extinction beam on his kin''s face.


    Obviously, the Sage dragon didn''t take this silently, and harmed Perdrakar greatly, but was still killed due to the other''s absolute attack. After that, a grueling battle between him and the heroes ured.


    At hisst breath, Perdrakar burned the entirety of his soul, and breathed out his strongest attack towards the Fourteen heroes in the widest angle he could manage. The heroes obviously dodged away, but the wastnd wasn''t quite able to and was divided into countless inds, some big, and some small.


    This legendary battlefield was etched into the hearts of every citizen in the World, reminding them of the powers of dragons.


    But it also became the trigger for something more sinister.


    With the two dragons at the helm of the World, keeping everyone else in check, the World was rtively peaceful. But without them, the greed and ambitions of humans began to flood out.


    The Holy Land of the Sun denounced every country who didn''t follow its religion, and began to convert the smaller countries around it into worshipping their god-king, Akkadi. Supposedly the Hero of Sun''s power came from the belief and sacrifice they offered to him, turning him into the almost uncontested strongest Hero of the World.


    The Nosk Triumvirate then began to rapidly swallow up its surrounding smaller countries, quickly turning into an Empire.


    Without the Sage Dragon''s interference, the Hexmagi Alliance became more and more daring with their ideas, eventually perfecting their ve chains called Oaths. Now, every new mage was forced to pledge their loyalty to the Alliance by the Oath Stamp. Even the slightest intent of rebellion was quenched by the monsters that resided in their hearts.


    Eventually, big conflicts began to ur everywhere, and a crimson tide washed over the world.

 Chapter 158: The advance of the Undying

    Chapter 158: The advance of the Undying


    "ursed mad dragon" Evin cursed, idly looking at the horizon, feeling like the iing army would appear at any moment now.


    Suddenly, her focus shifted slightly and a vision of an elderly woman with white hair and silver eyes looming over her appeared inside her head. ''Veidrakar'', ''an Authority of a World'', ''fucking overpowered'' Random strings of thoughts and words appeared along the image as well.


    "Urgh" Evin groaned and fell to her knees with a stumble, trying her best to memorize the words that appeared in her mind. She then pulled out something wrapped in paper and opened it up. Inside, was a caramelized golden ball, covered with bits and pieces of nuts, stuck on a wooden stick.


    Evin wrote the words down the paper like she always did, munched down on the candy, and began ying around with it inside her mouth. The candy helped her calm down, but she was a bit worried as it was one of the few she had left. No one seemed to have the time to make caramelized honey after all.


    "Another vision... one from the second world..." he muttered as he wrote.


    Since she was born, Evin was able to see mysterious visions in her head sometimes. As she aged, it became increasingly frequent. While in the past, she would have had maybe two visions in an entire year, all of them extremely blurry and cryptic; just the previous month, she had two very clear ones, like thest one.


    She divided them into two categories. The first category was a weird world, where no one could use magic, but where everyone instead utilized all kinds of weird and bizarre machinations. She hated these the most, because she would always feel extreme loneliness and madness inside them. All the visions rting to this world were always followed by severe depressive episodes as well.


    During these incidents, she would be unbelievably clingy, going almost crazy when she was left alone, reacting in an awfully unreasonable manner if she thought that someone was ignoring her.


    Most of her lovers were put away by this behavior after living with her for some time. At the end, after almost a hundred years, Evin was left with no significant other, and no children to love and nag to.


    ''But something tells me that even without these memories and episodes, I would still be alone Hmm...''


    In any case, the other category was of a World where there was magic, but it was much too different from how the Magi and the Hexes cast magic. Instead of the Divine Essence, there were things called World energies, which could be derived from something called mana.


    In those visions, Evin could tell that she was a young child, since every time they happened, Evin would be looking upwards. Weirdly, she was very, very mature and knowledgeable for her age in these memories.


    Thankfully, these memories didn''t induce any extreme reactions in her, but they were very confusing at times. And as she grew older, Evin learned to ignore these most of the time. She once tried to perform cast the magic that these memories showed, but quickly found that they were absolutely useless.


    She then mentioned it to her master, but the other didn''t really know much about it, only saying something superficial, like how some of the Hexes being born special and all. Well, he was a Mutant Magi, who specialized in strength and speed, so he really wasn''t the best person to ask about strange memories and visions.


    But there was one things that was very terrifying to Evin. She felt like her personality was most of the time, very simr to the one inside the memories: experienced, cynical, rather selfish, and even cold sometimes. This made her think that these memories were of her past life, or something along those lines... but weirdly, the things she did in her own life, here on Alvox, were... how should she call it... very different from her personality?


    For example, when she was learning to be a Hex for the first time, she would find herself making the same stupid mistakes all the time, even though she clearly understood how it worked in her brain. Like her body would almost automatically perform these mistakes for her, which gave her the feeling like she was almost out of control of her life.


    Another example would be how she would act in a way she didn''t mean to at important parts of her life. The biggest example of this was when she noticed some young magi chasing after her. She clearly saw all his bad spots: his maniptive personality, his irresponsible conduct, his generally asshole like temperament... but when the man actually came to propose her, instead of rejecting him, she immediately agreed! Her tone even sounded excited to herself, even though her head was inplete disagreement with her words.


    And for whatever reason, Evin was then forced to stay with someone she didn''t have a smidgeon of feeling towards, constantly having to deal with his shit. Evin still felt disgust when she remembered these parts of her life.


    These moments made her feel like she was just a spectator in her own life. Evin supposed that normally, thoughts like these would terrify someone to death. To think that every one of their life important life choices would be made automatically, like some kind of ''fate'', or ''destiny'' was imposed upon her. But Evin really didn''t feel too overwhelmed with the idea.


    ''At least I''m alive,'' she would think and try to forget about the matter. At times, she would even feel d that most of her important decisions would be made without her concern.


    Ironically, whatever she was trying to do here, awaiting the army of undead, knowing full well what they were capable of, this also felt like something she wouldn''t do normally.


    Evin sighed and shook her head while shrugging, with an almost unnoticeable half-smile on her face. At some point, this had be her go-to gesture as oftely.


    From what she understood, hertest lover really liked this particr way she shook her head. Heeven told her that he first fell for her when she was shaking her head like this at some ball, going so far to call it his first case of love at first sight.


    ''And weirdly, he was the best of the bunch by far Too bad he died in the war...'' Evin thought with some regret. She really felt like she would grow old and have children with him... But unfortunately, the magi was conscripted as part of the Hexmagi Alliance in the first major battle that sparked the Age of False Champions, one that happened between the Alliance and the Geger Theocracy.


    The Alliance won, but the Geger Theocracy''s Hero, the Child of the Stars, performed his most deadly sacrificial art, Meteor, to deal a heavy blow to the army of the Alliance. Evin''s lover had been caught in this attack and was killed in action.


    Hearing the news, Evin expected herself to be heartbroken, but for whatever reason, she was extremely calm. It wasn''t like she waspletely emotionless, but it was almost like she was used to such deaths happening to her, even though she never experienced the death of someone close to her before that point. The only person she could call herself close to was her master, but the old man was still alive and kicking, no sign of getting a day older. As for her parents, she had never seen them since she was raised in one of the Alliance''s special orphanages for young mages.


    Thankfully, that was before the Hexmagi Alliance were able to create the Oaths (also before they were mad enough to actually use them), or else Evin would''ve be one of the Alliance''s loyal dogs, or even worse, one of the ve Hexes and would have no choice but to die in the final sh between the Hexmagi Alliance and the Princess of Denial.


    Evin was positive that said sh would happen sooner orter. She remembered how the Princess'' army of undead had begun to relentlessly invade the other countries without even bothering to stabilize its control.


    ''Well, she really didn''t leave anyone alive to rule over, so...'' Evin thought cynically.


    Evin remembered how two of the Nosk Empire''s three heroes tried to perform a sudden attack on the Von, but no one would have guessed that the Princess would actuallye out on top. Not only that, she reanimated the two dead Heroes to do her bidding and invade the Nosk Empire, turning all the able Hex and Magi into undead.


    After the Princess absorbed Nosk, she had decided to invade outwards, her first target being the Holy Land of Sun. Her army destroyed everything in her path, methodically killing every single person and then razing the cities, every undead hellbent on hunting down every single living being and then turning them into one of their own. Everywhere they went, only the dead remained.


    The first time Evin ''witnessed'' this ''conversion'', she couldn''t stop herself from vomiting. The undead dug up every little ce that someone could have hidden in and killed everyone in the most brutal way possible.


    Probably the fastest and easiest to die were the children and the newborns. The Divine Essence users would either simply st them into smithereens with their powerful magic. But the others did not get to feel such luxuries.


    Men were thrown towards sharp metal spikes that were pulled out of the ground, all of them hoping to hit their heads on the spikes and join the children as quickly as possible. If they somehow survived, they would be left on stakes with the asional vultures and ravens feeding on their flesh, all whimpering from the unbearable pain.


    Slowly dying from the blood loss and shock, they were forced to watch as the women were slowly and meticulously skinned by the undead... The cause of death for the women could be anything from blood loss, hypothermia, or infection, but the time of their death would always exceed an hour at the least.


    But they didn''t have it the worst. The worst that Evin saw through her ability were the elderly. They would be put inside a box with agitated rats, bound and gagged, as they could only make muffled grunts, as the rats would have their way with their insides.


    As these atrocities happened, Evin would look at the faces of the undead, expecting to see revelry and sadism, but she instead only saw eptance and grim resolve.


    Shuddering from fear, Evin''s determination began to waver at the thought that the same army that wasmitting these atrocities were about to appear on the horizon. But she had no other choice.


    Evin was sure that the Princess nned to wipe out life on Alvox. She didn''t know why, but she was convinced she was right. Evin had fled from the Nosk''s borders all the way to Khemon here, and every ce she left a piece of her soul, she only saw the relentless destruction and death.


    ''But there were exceptions. There were definitely exceptions. And I fall into those exceptions,'' Evin thought resolutely.

 Chapter 159: Chance at survival

    Chapter 159: Chance at survival


    From what she could understand, the undead did not kill a certain group of magicians. They would kill themon people without squat, but they would gather the Hex and Magi and make them perform their magic. The ones who could use their souls were gathered and sent somewhere, while the rest would be killed.


    ''This is my only chance at survival...'' she thought as she looked at the horizon.Atst, the moment of reckoning came. Evin could see the ragged undying army of about five hundred slowly appear on the horizon. At its helm, a man wearing a small golden crown on his head stood tall, his impassive eyes coldly judging the city.


    "They''re here!" someone shouted below and everyone began to shove into the gates. At this point, the guards were not able to hold the mad crowd in check, but obviously, the city could not let these unlucky people ruin its defenses.


    A magi came out on one of the watchtowers and cast his spell. The crowd who were trying to flood through the gates below began to gag violently and some of them began to vomit out their bloody innards in an almost exaggerated manner.


    "Leave," the magi''s words resounded clearly in the surroundings.


    The rest of the crowd, looking at what happened, just stood silently, not knowing what to do. Evin supposed it was the first time they seen people get ughtered like that.


    ''Well, it doesn''t matter much, since there''s no way the army would let anyone go at this point,'' she thought with sigh.


    The man with the golden crown in the helm raised his hand and Evin could see a huge golden barrier taking form above everyone''s head and then engulfing everything in the visible vicinity. An impossible amount of Divine Essence oozed from its thick walls.


    "So, it begins," Evin muttered as the army began to casually march towards the city.


    Weirdly, she was abnormally calm at this moment. Perhaps because of the many times she witnessed the same ughter, and maybe because of the personality from the memories that haunted her.


    "What will you do?" the Magi from before had floated next to her and asked. Evin also noticed that a dozen other rather entric men and women had appeared on the other watchtowers as well.


    "Hmm?" Evin looked back, a bit confused.


    "Will you fight, or will you just stand there?"


    ''Oh,'' Evin thought, and confused asked.


    "Do you not see this barrier around us?" Evin asked, wondering if this mage was someone so powerful to not feel any fear from seeing the huge spell made of Divine essence.


    But it really did seem like the man just didn''t see it, as he looked around the area with a confused face. Seeing it, Evin decided to give him some friendly advice, knowing full well that he wouldn''t follow it.


    "I suggest you kill yourself to save yourself from the torture," she said suddenly, shocking the mages around. But the awkward silenve was broken by the magi''s loudughter.


    "Everything okay with you, my dear hex?" the magiughed with a scoff.


    "See that man with the golden crown? That''s one of the kings of the Nosk Empire, Lan the only magi in the World who was able to solve the secrets of Space," Evin exined softly before adding: "Though, he is an undead now"


    The magiughed, amused by the idea. Evin could see the other Divine Essence users looking at her with some mockery as well.


    "Hah, one of the leaders of the Empire, turned into an undead and sent to ughter a town of four thousand people. Ha-ha-ha, don''t scare yourself too hard, woman. Think rationally," the Magi said.


    "Well, don''t say I didn''t warn you" Evin murmured as she jumped down from the watchtower.


    "And if he is the man you speak to be? What are you going to do alone, jumping down to the battlefield like that?" the man''sughter echoed behind Evin. She just shrugged and shook her head with an almost dead smile.


    She didn''t me the man for not believing. This was the reason why she didn''t want to bother saying anything to the crowd that was scattering around behind her. It was just a waste of breath for Evin.


    These people were doomed to die and Evin made her peace with that.


    She just hoped he wouldn''t try to cast his spell against her back at this point. It didn''t seem likely as the Essence users of the town were severely underestimating the opposing army, considering their tattered looks and paleplexions. One more weak looking Hex wouldn''t make much of a difference in their eyes.


    She slowly walked towards the approaching army, focusing inwardly and bringing out a tiny part of her soul out of her body after a bit of a struggle. Magic and Divine Essence wasn''t something so easy to work with. Most of her time as a hex was spent on her trying to make Divine essence take notice of her. After that point, it got a bit easy, but the level of difficulty was different for everyone.


    It wasn''t like everyone could perform the same things. It was mostly dependent on what the Divine essence had in store for you. In the past, Evin always felt like she got the short end of the straw and received a shitty soul rted ability. Aside from her ability to leave parts of her soul in ces and see what they were seeing, she could only directly attack another''s soul, which debilitated or knocked them out, depending on how much they''ve trained their souls.


    In any case, looking at some of the undead mages on the other side stop looking like they were about to st Evin away after seeing her use soul magic, the stone inside her heart settled.


    After a few minutes of walking, Evin was only a few steps away from the undead. Then the approaching army split up slightly to leave Evin some space to walk up to the undead at the top of the hill. While passing through, Evin noticed that an unbelievably foul stench of rotting came from the members of the army. Well, she supposed it was inevitable, as some parts of their body had either been ripped open, or just damaged beyond repair.


    How were these people even walking, Evin had no idea. But since she knew that what they were going to do to that town''s people weren''t any less terrible than how they looked, she could only forget about the matter and walk towards the man with the crown. Upon closer look, Evin found that Lan was in a much better situation than the others. Sure, his skin had paled and he was missing his eyes, but he at least looked like someone alive. Mostly.


    "Heh, so you''re the one who kept eyeing on ustely... a great honor to finally meet you," a raspy voice came from Lan''s mouth. The tone and words could almost be considered friendly, but Evin felt no emotion from the sentence.


    Evin didn''t bother to reply.


    "Anyone inside that town who has a simr talent to yours?"


    "None that I know of. I''ve juste here three days ago," Evin replied truthfully.


    "Pity, guess we have to do it the hard way again. You stay next to me," Lan shook his head and watched his army slowly creep up on the town''s walls.


    A stray spell or two came at their way, but they were easily taken care of by the members of the army made of Divine essence users.


    At this point, Evin could almost see the confusion and disbelief appear inside the eyes of the guards and the city''s residents. ''They can''t possibly all be magi?'' they were probably thinking.


    But the surprises weren''t done yet, as another thing happened that caught the attention of everyone. The people that tried to flee away had seemingly run into an invisible wall. At first, they were confused, wondering what the hell they had just bumped into. But slowly, fear began to grasp their hearts, as they madly searched for some way around those invisible walls.


    The army did not bother with those people and simply continued their march towards the city''s walls. The attacks and spells from the city guards intensified, but all it did was reaffirm their fears and worries that the army consisted of only magi and hexes. At this point, the confusion and worry they had turnedpletely into fear and panic.


    When the army reached a certain distance towards the town, its members began to send their own spells against the town gates and countless grey orbs of Divine Essence took air. This was another weird feature of the army of undead. Aside from a few notable ones like Lan here, they could all perform the same spells as each other. And none of these ragged people looked like a proper mage, which always lead to mages who didn''t know of them to underestimate them. Even upon closer look, Evin couldn''t feel a smidge of Essence residue on the mages.


    The people on the watchtowers seemed to be shocked, but Evin didn''t care.


    ''I just want to live.''


    She looked away, tired of seeing the things that would follow afterwards. But the expected loud explosion of Divine essence did not enter her ears, as an eerie silence ensued in the area.


    Evin looked back to see a beautiful woman with shining silver hair floating in front of the city. She seemed to have stopped all of the attacks that came from the 500 or so mages, as she coolly eyed the army of undead.


    Confused, Evin looked at Lan to see him smiling back uncannily.


    "Dragon"


    ---


    Author''s notes(Jan 19): Today and tomorrow I can only publish one chapter each, because I''m getting confused by the powerlevels in the novel. Again.


    So, I need some time to flesh out some things properly.

 Chapter 160: Her Past Life

    Chapter 160: Her Past Life


    The word exined everything to Evin. Now that she thought about it, it was weird for the other dragons, aside from Perdrakar and the Sage Dragon to let the Princess of Denial do as she wanted. Evin didn''t know if the dragons didn''t care, or if the army hadn''t encountered a dragon who was staying in one of the cities yet. And somehow, Evin just happened to be in the city that housed a dragon.


    But a more immediately problem caught Evin''s attention.


    ''If that dragon decides to fight the army, I will most like end up dead,'' she realized.


    The army and Lan was strong, but probably not strong enough to y a dragon. And since Evin had explicitly sided with the enemies, she would most likely be killed by the same dragon as well.


    "Don''t worry," Lan said after noticing that Evin seemed to be worried and created what seemed to be a rip in space in front of himself. Evin guessed that it was one of those legendary teleportation gates that Lan was famous for. She looked at the town, and found that a simr one had appeared in front of the silver-haired woman as well. The army of undead had stopped their movements for a brief moment in respect of her. The townspeople and the mages had also stopped to see what she would do.


    The dragon looked warily, before ignoring the portal and just flying towards Lan. Shended on the ground elegantly, creating a slight gust of air in the process.


    "Good day to you, dragon. How should I address you?" Lan asked politely after dispelling his portal.


    Evin looked at the dragon closely, and found that she looked very simr to the Veidrakar she just saw in her visions. Evin really wanted to ask her if she knew of someone named simrly hoping it might rouse something in the Dragon, but unfortunately, she just couldn''t get her mouth to move the way she wanted to. She guessed that this was one of those moments when she couldn''t control her own actions and movements.


    "Take your army of abominations and leave this town," the dragon ordered with a threatening tone.


    "I''m afraid we can''t do that. And before you start threatening my life, know that even if you kill me and the rest, this town will die from the next wave of the Princess'' army, one which would be more suited to deal with a dragon," Lan said with a dead smile.


    "Hmph, and I''m just supposed toy over and die for you?" the dragon snorted coldly.


    "The Princess expressed that she has no designs towards your ancient race and has instructed us to send any of the dragons we chance upon towards her, to the Capital of Von. You can bring up to five people who you consider your family, but any more than that Well, my condolences"


    "And if I don''t wish to meet this princess of yours?"


    "Please, don''t worry about that. The Princess of Denial herself shall personallye to meet you if she finds it necessary. There will not be a ce in this world which will be free from her grasp," Lan said in an almost reverent way. It was the first time Evin detected any sort of emotion in his voice.


    "Why does she do this?" the dragon showed signs ofplying, which was great for Evin.


    "Ah, I''m not quite sure. But she did tell us to show this to any of the dragons I meet, even though I don''t quite understand it myself," Lan said and brought out a paper scroll.


    Evin was curious of the contents, but knew that such things weren''t meant for her to see.


    The dragon took the scroll in her hands and briefly nced through the contents. Her face did not change at all in any noticeable way, but Evin could tell that she took on the scroll''s contents very seriously.


    "I suppose it was time" she muttered in the end.


    ''Time for what?'' Evin thought curiously.


    "Can I understand that you''ve made your decision?" Lan asked with a smile to which the dragon nodded gravely.


    "I don''t have anyone I want to bring with me"


    "Absolutely fantastic. Though, could you tell us if there are any mages that can use soul-based magic in that town over there?"


    "Not that I know of," the dragon shook her head.


    "You know, I shall take your word for it. And since there is no more need for you to stay here, please take the portal towards Von I have made for you," Lan smiled and beckoned Evin over as well: "You as well... There should be a guide for you back there"


    Evin looked at the portal with some wariness, but with Lan watching her from the side and a dragon waiting for her, she had to walk through it.


    After she stepped inside the swirling golden tear in space, Evin found herself inside apletely different environment. A huge hall decorated with various botanical rarities appeared in her eyes. She also noticed that the air had be hotter and more humid, with the slight smell of seawater tickling her nose. Some people dressed in Von''s traditional light purple clothing wereing towards them as well.


    ''If I remember correctly, these purple-clothed people should be called the servants of the Princess,'' Evin thought almost idly, surprised by her calmness.


    "It is true A thousand day journey in a single step" Evin said in a tone of voice, not simr to her thoughts. Evin was a bit surprised, but guessed that this was also part of her automated speeches.


    What happened next wasn''t anything special. The dragon was taken away somewhere, while Evin was asked to wait for the Princess'' summons, while waiting inside a rathermon house that was prepared for her.


    Two months had passed since then, and Evin was lying on her bed, her hair almost gray now, with two huge dark spots under her eyes. A pile of papers with random drawings, strings of words, and messy descriptions were scattered all around her. She had one of these papers in her hand, trying again and again to read the contents. Unfortunately, her head just wasn''t able to concentrate on the damn thing.


    Evin didn''t know if the army of undead were able to conquer the World yet, since no one seemed willing to tell her any news. The servants around didn''t mind conversing with her, even for hours without end sometimes, but they were abnormally tight-lipped on certain matters.


    Although she did feel like prisoner at times, she understood that her fate was in the hands of the Princess at this point. Evin was just d that she wasn''t killed at the hands of the undead But at this point... Evin really didn''t mind dying, as long as the death was painless and swift.


    A huge problem kept nagging her mind. The visions of the two Worlds began to appear much more frequently inside her head. At this point, the visions became a daily thing and all of them continued on for almost an hour at least. The scariest part was, she realized that she could function in society without problems even as she''s absorbed inside a vision.


    Once she finished an almost hour long vision and found herself talking to a servant. She didn''t know how she ended up talking to a servant, but she did know that the servants never initiated a conversation themselves. This should mean that it was Evin herself who sparked the conversation.


    "This is seriously fucked up Can I even live on like this?" Evin cursed.


    She had learned so many things about the two Worlds, she was convinced it was her past life at this point. She always made sure to write down everything she saw in these dreams in a piece of paper just in case, and reading through the pile she had made over the years, she was able to see the brief summary of her two lives.


    This had put her mind in a state of constant depression, as she spent the sleepless nights thinking of the two Worlds and the meaning of life unceasingly.


    But after a while, she felt like she became used to the pressure. Her personality became more and more simr to the boy from the second World, but without the constant humor and satire, as there was no one around who could understand her suicidal jokes.


    Anyway, her first life was about a World without magic named Earth, where she lived as some author of a book, but then died and became a mad and lonely spirit. Unfortunately, this was the only concrete thing she could conclude at this time. The visions about this ce were very scattered and random, so she only knew some parts of her life when she was still alive, and some of the random things she did when she was a spirit (mostly following behind someone in one way or another).


    As for the other World, she was a young magi boy, who had a talking cat, a red-haired boy, bunch of weird things, like shapeshifting metal and a dark floating fox-head as his friends. She didn''t do much in these visions aside from training to be stronger.


    But the more important part was, from what Evin could understand, the world she was living in was Alvox. Due to one vision, where she was trying to work with mana, she was able to see that it was the exact same thing as Divine essence.

 Chapter 161: Princess of Denial

    Chapter 161: Princess of Denial


    Obviously, many things that were confusing about this. When exactly was this in the past? Who was this Final Empress? How did she disappear if she was so powerful? Where did all these various races disappear off to? The Cobfolk? The Myrmi? The Undines, the Griffins, and the Colossi? What were those?


    But even pondering about it all day long, Evin wasn''t able to guess at the answers. It wasn''t like she knew everything about these visions. If she was asked if she knew even one tenth of these past two lives, her answer would be a resounding no.


    ''But they <em>were</em> very interesting...''


    And at least there was something she could do as she waited for the Princess to call for her. Even if it negatively affected her mental health greatly, she wanted to see the things that these two lives had to offer.


    So most of her time when she wasn''t deciphering her visions, she would be lying on her bed, waiting for them. Just like today. But her ns were destined to be ruined, as she heard someone knock on the door.


    "The Princess awaits you," a servant''s voice came from behind the door.


    ''Fuck...'' Evin thought in her head, as she prepared herself.


    After hastily getting ready, Evin followed behind the servant through the grandly decorated halls, enjoying the feeling of sunshine on her skin. Aside from the few time she went to get someone, Evin never really went outside the house that was given to her, so it was a rtively refreshing experience for her.


    Eventually she reached a huge, windowless five-story building. There wasn''t much to say about its architectural structure, as there really weren''t a lot of features on it. Evin could probablypare it to a white cube with a door. It waspletely built out of a very sturdy-looking white block, but Evin wasn''t very knowledgeable about this subject so she could only specte the origins of this material.


    "The Princess awaits you on the second floor," the servant said in a small voice and opened the front door of the building.


    Evin entered, and found that the inside of this weird building contained a very unknown yet also familiar interior. A smoothened white marble floor that reflected Evin''s own reflection, glowing objects on ceilings that illuminated the surroundings, clean white pirs that were scattered in random ces plus, the simplicity and the whiteness of this building waspletely different than any other pce or mansion that she came upon, all of which were riddled with the most detailed and precise decorations one could create. Compared to them, this ce could almost be called empty.


    But after thinking about the matter a bit, Evin realized why she found them so familiar. They were very simr to the things she saw on the world called Earth in her visions. This discovery shocked her a bit, but she didn''t dawdle on it too much.


    Her abnormal calmness was seemingly taking over.


    Evin stopped herself from gawking, and resolutely looked at the spiral stairs that went upstairs and the rays of light that shone down from its top. Shaking her head, she took the stairs and squinted her eyes, as she found herself in a wide room with an almost excessive amount of light.


    After a few breaths, Evin was able to see her surroundings a bit better, and her eyes finallynded on a woman who was sitting behind arge table, curiously gazing at a set of ss containers filled with various botanical specimens.


    The Princess of Denial was a very simple looking woman. She could almost be called a teenage girl from a passing nce with her small stature and her round face which still had some of her baby-fat, which gave some justice to her title of Princess...


    But her long, half-graying dark hair messily running down to her shoulders plus her dark circles under her eyes gave the Princess an air of haggardness and decay. And to top it all off, she only wore a simple white night gown, which showed just how much she didn''t care about taking care of her appearance.


    Evin never imagined the Princess to look so simple and almost boring.


    But thinking about it a bit, Evin didn''t really know how she imagined the Princess would look like. A sharp faced woman who donned a raiment made from the skin and bones of her enemies, constantly radiating the stench of blood?


    Probably not what she would imagine, but regardless, the dangerous aura she emitted was the same both in Evin''s imagination and reality.


    In any case, Evin didn''t wish to disturb the Princess as thetter was focusing on some specimen on the table. Seemed to be some sort of a dark blue seed, which emitted a pale blue light. Somehow, this seed gave Evin an eerily familiar feeling of dread and death.


    As she was thinking of why she found the seed so familiar, the silence was broken by someonepletely unexpected to Evin.


    "Princess, I am ready to serve and follow you for all eternity," without herself meaning to, Evin loudly uttered some random words she wasn''t even thinking about.


    Evin was a bit startled by this sudden action of hers, but supposed that a meeting with the princess would definitely be an important enough event to be yed out without her control. At this point, Evin was used to it, and just wondered how ''she'' would y this out.


    The Princess'' scrutinizing gaze fell on Evin''s figure for a brief moment and a disgusted expression appeared on her face.


    "What the hell is wrong with your soul?" the Princess asked suddenly.


    It seemed like a simple question, but these simple words set off a storm that began to rage inside Evin. She felt like the Princess did something terribly wrong, or perhaps she said something that shouldn''t be said. It felt like Evin''s whole existence was being questioned.


    Evin tried to say something, but it just didn''t seem possible. It was like fate did not allow her to say anything else.


    "Princess, I will follow you for all eternity," Evin repeated her words like a broken record.


    "Howe you have two souls, one corrupted and dead, while the other old and withered, like some sort of rotting ck apple?" the Princess asked again.


    A tear dropped from Evin''s eyes. She tried to speak something, but her throat was choked and her voice cracked.


    ''Please! Help me!'' she wanted to scream, but there was only one thing she could say.


    "Princess, I wi" she began speaking, before her mind was pulled into a sudden vision.


    Evin found herself sitting inside a dark cavern, with some child-like being made of darkness speaking of some story while sitting alongside a fox-like monster which had huge tentacles swaying about above its body.


    "... The Heroes of that time could probably defeat her if they joined forces, but the mysteriousness of the Empress and the rtively smallnds of Von did not allow for such an oue toe true," the Dark thing was speaking.


    From the contents, Evin could tell that they were talking about the mysterious final Empress.


    ''Wait... Von, and the Heroes? The Fourteen Heroes?'' Evin thought with confusion.

 Chapter 162: Existential Crisis

    Chapter 162: Existential Crisis


    "There must be at least something though, no?" the young boy she inhibited asked with a curious tone.


    "There was only one thing that was known about the Empress of that time and that was her title," the Dark thing spoke in a torturously slow pace.


    "What is it?" the young boy asked.


    "The Princess of Denial"


    ''My past life is from the future!'' Evin finished thinking and her consciousness was immediately sent to a different vision.


    In it, her mind was inside the body of the young boy, warily looking through the gaps of a reinforced window. Outside, a gigantic blue tree was spewing out hundreds of pale blue humans from its flower-like things. Then, the humans just floated in the air, looking around themselves with confusion like they didn''t know what they were supposed to do.


    Suddenly, a pop sounded behind her, as she looked back and saw that a simr situation was unfolding in the room she was in.


    A pale blue female body appeared from inside the blue vein of the tree, but instead of feeling fear and worry like the boy she was inhibiting, Evin felt understanding.


    The pale woman then took notice of the boy and attacked him. After a brief struggle, she knocked the boy out and started to thrash about on top of him, ripping apart his body until a bright blue core appeared from inside the boy''s chest. She seemed to space out a bit, before she began ripping apart her own body next, until a dark blue core appeared. Looking at the dark blue core, Evin couldn''t help but feel fear and longing.


    Then, the woman ripped it off her chest and merged it with the boy''s bright core.


    Evin was finally free from the vision, but another set of memories appeared in her head. But there was something different about this one. It wasn''t about the young boy, or the spirit on another world. It was about Evin herself. It was about her future.


    Evin watched without emotion.


    "Princess, I will follow you for all eternity," she seemed to be saying. In front of her stood the same Princess that she saw just a moment ago, but instead of the disgusted and confused face she showed to Evin, uncaring boredom was apparent on her face.


    "I don''t care for your loyalty," the Princess spat out emotionleslly.


    "Princess?" a confused tone came from inside her mouth.


    "You seem to be misunderstanding something," the Princess said and made a pulling gesture at Evin.


    A heart-rending pain took over her entire body, as Evin could feel that something was terribly wrong with her situation.


    Trying to see what exactly was happening, Evin looked at her own body, but found that it looked transparent, almost invisible. It also felt like she was looking at her body from inside her chest, instead of how one usually looks at things from the eyes.


    Evin then found herself in a position that seemed to be the Princess'' palm, like the other was holding her in her hands. Confusion and weakness filled her thoughts and the Princess shoved her into the dark blue seed she was working on.


    After that, Evin''s mind nked. Endless dark-blue that seemed to stretch out for infinity. An unknown amount of timeter, Evin felt herself being reborn from a flower. Everything felt instinctual. The way she ate the flower petals, the way she pulled herself out of it, the way she looked at the young boy in front of her, the way she attacked him like her life depended on it, the way she dug up the two cores and merged it in her desperate attempt at life...


    But something went wrong in the final moment. The soul she tried to swallow up was too old, too ''chewy'' for her to digest. Evin felt her heart being filled with regret and fear. She made a desperate gamble to merge with the boy''s soul.


    ...


    The vision ended, and Evin found herself back in her original location, the one where she was stuck swearing her allegiance to the Princess. Her knees went weak, and she staggered onto the ground. But there was rity in her mind.


    Evin finally understood what the hell was her problem. Why she always felt like a spectator on her life, why her personality seemed different from her actions, why everything felt so wrong all the time. Her whole entire life, she was just living a memory. And not with her own true soul and personality, but with the personality of another.


    ''Who am I?'' she couldn''t help but think these thoughts.


    After she realized this, she was about to hatefully re at the Princess who had originally did something to her soul, but something was very different this time.


    Instead of the haggard and tired young Princess, an almost godlike woman had appeared in front of her. Her existence which oozed out authority and safety calmed Evin down greatly and making her forget that she was having an existential crisis. All her problems and worries seemed inconsequential in this woman''s presence, as Evin realized that she was just happy to simply gawk upon this woman without obstruction.


    ''Is this how it feels to feel unconditional subservience to someone?'' random thoughts filled Evin''sawed mind. She could never understand people that were truly loyal to someone else. In her mind, it was impossible for one to truly die for someone else.


    But looking at the woman in front of her Evin could kind of understand why some people felt like that. Why they were willing to put aside their own interests and chase after the beliefs and ideals of others.


    At this point Evin was convinced that the woman was a goddess of some sort.


    ''Is it the Final Empress?'' she couldn''t help but specte.


    It was an inevitable thought, as the goddess almost looked like a more mature version of the Princess she saw right before her vision came upon her, butpared to the Princess who looked exhausted and worn-out, this woman, this goddess looked like the swan that had transformed from the ugly duckling.


    Her greyed out hair was reced with a long and lustrous jet-ck hair. And paired with her well-defined face that had lost all the unnecessary fat and the dark circles under her eyes, the woman looked much more mature and pleasing to the eyes.


    Her body had also be much tallerpared to before, as she towered over the ss containers, her golden flickering eyes looking over them with idle amusement.


    Another big improvement in Evin''s opinion was the goddess'' clothing. It was a silky sleeveless long dress, which was decorated with dark golden ornaments. Her hair, neck, and chest also had simr essories, with only her pale-white handspletely free of anything.


    But the thing that interested Evin the most was the slightly unfocused way she looked at things, like her mind was off about thinking of somethingpletely different than whatever she was doing currently. The constant flickering in her eyes also did not help dispel this impression she had.


    The woman then looked at Evin with a slight smile.


    "I was wondering who had the gall to peek at my past. To think it was you Heh, only 5 years here on my domain and you''re already messing around with souls and memories," she said amusedly.


    Evin looked back at her with a confused face.


    ''Perhaps it had something to do with the vision I just had?'' she wondered and tried to speak.


    "Princess, I will follow you for all eternity," but the same words she had been repeating all this time came out of her mouth. Evin then looked at the goddess pleadingly.


    "Ah, you''re stuck inside a fixed memory. Let me help you with that," she said and walked through the table towards Evin.


    Evin noticed another arm appearing from inside the goddess'' right hand and then reach towards Evin''s forehead. Looking closer at the goddess'' body, Evin could tell that when her hand moved, it was like countless other arms were moving alongside with it, as it blurred in the air like an afterimage of some sorts.


    But Evin wasn''t able to think more about this, as with the touch of her hand, the goddess seemed to send her away to a ce long sealed away by herself.

 Chapter 163: The failed World

    Chapter 163: The failed World


    Twelve satfortably next to Evin, with part of her consciousness superimposing upon the boy.


    She witnessed thetter spend about four and a half days in the failed World unconsciously. At first, he was obtaining information, witnessing the birth of the Instruments of Death and then seeing the Soul Tree bloom. But, he was caught by a corrupted soul, with the other trying to take over his soul and ultimately failing.


    Evin''s soul was much too powerful to be absorbed by some random corrupted soul.


    But instead of getting damaged by due to the failure and being destroyed, the soul desperately tried to find amon ground with Evin''s soul and merge. Even though Evin''s soul was strong, it was too inexperienced, so it could only follow the other''s lead.


    From what her mother told her, there were countless methods for two souls to merge and all of them were random so Twelve wasn''t sure exactly which of it was happening to the two. But she knew that whatever it was, it wouldst between a day and a week.


    This was a rather unexpected and a bit of an undesirable turn of events, but Twelve was confident in her ability to solve whatever problem that may appear in Evin after the merge finishes. She wasn''t the Authority of Time for nothing.


    Thus, Twelve had Four put up a protective barrier around Evin, so the other souls that came from the Soul Tree wouldn''t interrupt the process.


    Since almost five days passed at this point, Twelve was expecting the other to wake up soon.


    Although Evin''s soul spent a long time in Four''s World, in the main world, only 72 minutes had passed. Time flowed very differently in the World Evin was stuck in, with about a hundred minutes in the World, equaling to a single minute in the main World.


    Thus nothing much had changed outside.


    The super-imposer that tried to attack Twelve was still outside the barrier, sitting in a meditating position. Twelve didn''t n to shoo away the man, and thankfully, the man didn''t seem inclined to make a fuss out of this event. Twelve was prepared to ask Kal, or Kena to intervene for her, but it didn''t seem needed for the time being.


    As Twelve kept an eye on Evin''s state, she was also delving through her memories on the side, digging up anything rted to Fourth Joke''s failed World. Most of them were in the forms of stories that her mother told her.


    "Technically, the World isn''t aplete failure as it didn''t just break down or outright disfunction like the countless other ones. The problem that this particr World faces lies in other things," a recording of her mother''s soothing voice yed out inside Twelve''s head and acalming sensation appeared on her face.


    "In my original n, Fourth Joke''s World was supposed to be a kind of World of Death originally, which kind of exins the decay and the generally gloomy atmosphere. Since the World was very special to myself, I poured a lot of my efforts to create the perfect World of Death, pushing the limits of her imagination and shoving the purest Death energy I could muster into it"


    "But that turned out to be a failure, since anyone and everything that entered or resided in the World just died. A living being''s soul would be ground down and wither under the effects of the almost unholy amount of Death energy, while any kind of object that appeared in the World would turn into pale white ash. After only a few days the test started, the entirety of the World became andscape of said white ash" The Empress voice continued.


    "I then decided that there should be something that keeps the visitors and the things of the World alive and functioning. I reset the World of Death, but this time I added a few extra features"


    "First: When a mage enters the World of Death, they wouldn''t be entering a preexisting World of Death. They would be turning a copy of a small area of the main World around them into a new, mini-World of Death. This was because I realized that even with something to hold back the Death energy, it would still end up corroding and taking over the entire World sooner orter"


    "Anyways, next: A Soul Tree would spawn nearby. These gigantic trees would constantly pour out a certain type of Soul energy into the atmosphere of the World of Death, keeping the residents'' souls invigorated and ''not quite dead''. It also had the ability to keep the objects inside functioning to a degree as well"


    "I thought that this would be enough to make the World usable for mages, but it still faced problems. Like oil and water, Soul energy and Death energy couldn''t quite coexist or merge together. So, in the end, the World could only be described as a ''world filled with Soul energy in an otherwise dead environment''. Inside the World, a mage was able to absorb soul energy, but those would be apanied by death energy that would slowly but surely kill the mage"


    "There was also the issue of the Instruments of Death (as I like to call them) that appeared out of nowhere and started rampaging inside the World," the voice finished narrating and chuckled.


    A slight smile appeared on Twelve''s face as she heard this chuckle.


    "I really didn''t know where these things came from so I was quite shocked to see a new form of life appear suddenly. If one was unfamiliar with Death energy and tried to make contact with these things, they would immediately wither down and turn to dust. Obviously, I was fine, but most others would probably have a bad time with these things"


    "Facing so many problems, I tried my best to resolve all of them, I really did. I added methods to filter out the Death energy, made it so that the Soul Tree repelled the Instruments of Death to a certain degree, tried to slow down the corrosion of the World a bit but the resources and effort I had to use to keep the World working was too much to justify letting mages use it in a wider scale. And besides, in some cases, Death magic can be a bit too overwhelming, so at this point, I just gave up on the idea of the World of Death and focused on developing the World of Souls," The Empress said and continued on a tangent about the story of Seventh Joke.


    This was an unrted story so Twelve didn''t bother digging through her memories for details about that. Though, she did know that it eventually branched off into the final versions of the World of Emotions and the World of Thoughts.


    "Ahem, anyway, I did notpletely get rid of the failed World of Death, since I still wanted to use it to try out some other things I had in mind. Perhaps I could have only a set number of mages ess it; or turn into a trial of some sorts, filled with soul-rted creatures. Since at that point, I was also trying to create a World that was made for keeping various creatures and monsters inside it"


    "I think I named it the World of Summoning or something, right? Your sister, Second Joke''s World which faced the problem of keeping all the monsters alive and fed"


    Hearing that, Twelve nced at the girl who was dressed in a simple, white clothing, with a pondering gaze.


    Shaking her head, Twelve focused on her mother''s voice.

 Chapter 164: Twelve and the others

    Chapter 164: Twelve and the others


    "Where was I? Ah, yes. The trial"


    "I didn''tpletely discard the failed World of Souls and Death, and decided to maybe turn it into a trial for mages to ovee. I reced the normal Soul Tree with a corrupted one (which was filled with corrupted souls) and made it so that they could only be killed through Soul magic. And if a mage managed to kill them, they would absorb the creatures'' souls for themselves, increasing their chances of be reincarnated in my World, while also giving a boost to their Soul magic"


    "The final goal was to cast a strong enough Soul re to burn the tree downpletely. Do that, and the mage was free from the trial. Obviously, they could die and be seriously injured or affected inside during these challenges, but what''s a trial without some danger?" The Empress chuckled.


    "Unfortunately, in the end, I had to scrap the idea, because I couldn''t make the World of Soul work out like I wanted to. But since I had spent so much time and effort on this project, I couldn''t just get rid of it. In the end, I decided to sort all the other half-failed projects of hers, gave them all to you and your sisters and called the collection ''the Twelve Jokes''," The Empress said proudly.


    Obviously, Twelve, her original name being Twelfth Joke, was from this batch.


    ''I suppose mother couldn''t outright name us ''Twelve Failures'', since at that point, it would just be sad,'' Twelve thought with an unamused face.


    The other Authorities (and Twelve herself) sometimes cringed at the Empress'' way of naming things (and people), objecting that the World of Fire should''ve been called the zing/Ardent/ring/etc. World; and the World of Water should''ve at least been called the Aquatic World or something; maybe at least give them unique names; etc., etc.


    But the Empress shot them all down, with the following statement:


    "The names are very simple and understandable. An overlyplicated name is most of the time unnecessary and just outright annoying to remember sometimes. A name is given to things so people can understand it better. I could rename the World of Water into ''Ivelisi'', or whatever, but people will hear it, and just question what it means. But when they hear the World of Water, they will immediately understand what it does and how it could be used. Also, you are all banned from renaming the Worlds'' names"


    Twelve wanted to then ask why she was called the Twelfth Joke, but decided it was best not to argue with her mother at the moment.


    Eventually, she was designated as one of the main Authorities, with her World of Time bing one of the 12 Worlds essible to mages, even though it was deemed as a failure at first.


    This was mostly due to how rtively harmless the World of Time was. Besides the Empress and Twelve herself, practically no one was able to do anything with it. Obviously, the mages didn''t know about this, so they would still try their best to make it work, before giving up entirely.


    But after a period of time, most of the Twelve Jokes got a bit out of hand, and the Empress decided to do something about them. But she couldn''t just kill them or keep them locked up forever, so she designated Twelve as the representative of the failed Worlds'' supervisors and tasked her with watching over the others, since she was the most stable one of the sisters.


    "From now on, you will be the eldest sister, even though you''re technically the youngest one. Make sure you keep them in check, but don''t be too harsh on them, okay?" The Empress voice seemed to echo in Twelve''s mind.


    Then, she created a specially created miniature World, that was essible only through Twelve. From inside the miniature World, the ''failures'' could ess their own respective Worlds, or ces, but they couldn''t quite enter the main world.


    The others were obviously furious about this, and tried many different ways of dethroning Twelve off from the top. The first few decades they all tried many variations of ganging up on her. Twelve thought that they would give up after a while, but that seemed unlikely so Twelve made it impossible for them to converse through telepathy. This meant that if they wanted to plot something together, they had to do it with Twelve was listening in the background.


    Then came the individual attempts from each of the sisters. Most of them tried to jump ship to another host through some random method using their Worlds like Fourth Joke did thest time. Each and every attempt of theirs failed, since Twelve was simply much more ''authoritative'' than them, but the others never stopped trying.


    Twelve didn''t know whether tomend their tenacity or insult their idiocy. And after each attempt, they would make a huge fuss of it (cussing, swearing, taunting, breaking things etc.). After venting out their frustrations to their heart''s content they would act like nothing happened. At this point she believed that they were just doing these things out of boredom, like the Empress spected.


    "Now, now, they are probably just feeling a bit stuffy. And I kind of created them with ws in the first ce, so I can''t just force their personalities to be meek again. Perhaps you can try to give them some freedom and see if that works"


    Some time passed before Twelve began to allow the rest to borrow control over Twelve''s body and spend some time doing whatever they wanted in a schedule. For example, when it was Second Joke''s turn to take over Twelve''s body, the girl spent her time taking care of the few, rather special creatures that resided in an animal shelter which was located in some obscure corner of the North.


    On the other hand, Five would spend her time role-ying as a the supposed part-time ghost of the Arcvallen Academy.


    Twelve then looked at Four (who was screaming and crying endlessly a few hours ago), calm as the blue skies, sittingfortably in her favorite ''legal loli'' T-shirt and short jeans. The girl shed her signature Cheshire smile at Twelve, when she noticed that she was being watched.


    Four''s free time was mostly spent trying to ruin some dangerously thirsty men''s lives through social media on Earth. Although she couldn''t freely visit her bellowed due to some limitations, she wasn''tpletely cut off from it thanks to her mother''s abilities.


    Twelve once visited Earth with the Empress during thete 1980s and Four just fell in love with the ce. She nagged the Empress to create some kind of way to reach Earth, speaking of individual rights to freedom and all that good stuff, eventually getting the Empress to make her room in the miniature World a bit of a spatial anomaly that was partially connected to Earth.


    Twelve sighed lightly and wiped the slight frown that appeared on her face unconsciously. Just now, after Four finished with her attempt, Twelve thought of doing some dangerous things to Four as an example to the others, but in the end, she just couldn''t make herselfmit to it. She knew that her mother would scold her for it greatly.


    ''It wasn''t like anyone was harmed in the end,'' she thought, as she looked at Evin, who was soundly passed out on both Worlds.


    But when her eyes fell on Evin''s face, she could see that his eyes were flickering rapidly.


    ''The boy''s about to wake up...'' Twelve thought briefly, thinking of what she would do.


    ''I suppose I can''t expect him to learn Soul magic by himself... I''ll have to ask Four to teach him some stuff...'' she thought idly as she waited observed silently.


    But something unforeseen was happening around Evin. A great amount of raw mana began to gather around him, turning the usually manacking air of the World of Death into an atmosphere that could only be found in few ces on Alvox.


    "What is happening?" Twelve murmured with some confusion on her face. But very quickly, the confusion was reced with disbelief.


    "Mother!"

 Chapter 165: What happened

    Chapter 165: What happened


    Evin woke up and found himself experiencing a severe headache. He opened his eyes and noticed that he was still inside the weird World, but differently from before, there was a bright blue barrier of some sorts seemingly protecting his surroundings. And there was this lingering feeling that something was wrong.


    ''What the fuck happened?'' he tried to think despite the pain in his head.


    ''I was attacked by that woman that came out of the tree and then I saw her merge some dark orb into my body?'' he thought groggily before his hands hurriedly check his own chest.


    ''I''m still fine?'' he thought with some confusion. Even the clothes that were ripped off reappeared on his chest like nothing happened.


    ''Perhaps I was dreaming?'' rubbing his forehead, he looked around himself and saw the woman lying next to him motionlessly, seemingly dead. It seemed like her gaze was locked onto where he was lying down a minute ago. An unbelieving expression was forever etched onto her face.


    Well, she wasn''t exactly ''seemingly dead'', since her chest was ripped open, giving off pale blue light. But Evin''s mind was focused on another detail. Looking at that face, Evin couldn''t help but think it looked extremely familiar and even close to him, but no matter how he tried, he couldn''t understand why she felt so familiar to him.


    ''Thest time I saw her, she was trying to kill me. As far as I know, at least...''


    Then, unknowingly, his mouth began to salivate, and Evin understood that his body was craving something.


    ''Coffee? No Something sweet Since when did I crave sweets? Seriously, what the fuck happened?'' he tried to think, but it was just too hard with the constant throbs of pain in his head.


    "Oh, you''re awake. Hmm I can''t say I''m not impressed by your resilience Compared to you, the woman didn''t seem to fare that well" the voice of a girl sounded in his ears. Weirdly, the voice seemed to be distorted slightly, sometimes echoing in Evin''s head countless times, other times sounding like another set of voices were ovepped with it.


    Evin looked over and found a Twelve in a baggy pink T-shirt and jeans looking over him with a Cheshire smile.


    "Twelve," he muttered softly, not knowing whether to be scared or worried, to which the girl simply smiled and touched Evin''s forehead. A calming sensation filled his body, and all the worry and pain he was feeling a moment ago disappeared.


    "Not Twelve, I''m Four," she replied, her voice normal this time.


    "What''s the difference?" Evin asked, but Four frowned slightly at the remark, her expression depicting her unwillingness to talk about the subject.


    ''Isn''t she the psycho one? Is the psycho one called Four? Why is she here? Am I going to be silenced?'' lots of thoughts entered Evin''s head, as his head began to remember the details he concluded about Twelve.


    Evin was at a loss for words for a second, before he realized that the atmosphere was awfully silent and urged himself to say something.


    "Did you save me?"


    "Don''t mind it, it''s a small matter for me," Four shrugged emotionlessly.


    It seemed like Four here really wasn''t keen on talking. Evin didn''t know how to feel when he heard his traumatizing experience be chalked up as some ''small matter'', but he could only nod in agreement with the girl. But at this point, Evin was just d that he had someone to converse with in this World.


    The incident with the Ashen Giants and the people that came out of the Giant tree seemed like a bad dream to him at this point, but he definitely knew how real they were. Evin almost died(?) to a single woman that came out of the tree, while there were hundreds of them roaming around the area.


    ''Besides, it probably is a very small matter for her But speaking of small matters for her, what is she doing here?'' Evin suddenly thought of the current situation.


    "If you don''t mind me asking, could you tell me how this situation happened to be?"


    Four then fell into silence, seemingly gathering her thoughts.


    "From what I witnessed, you''ve been attacked by this corrupted soul here After which she probably tried to absorb your soul for herself, but ultimately failed. Then somehow she supposedly tried to merge with you?" the girl murmured cryptically.


    Evin was a bit confused as he listened to the girl trying to work out her words.


    "Judging from how you were reliving her life with a distorted persona, uhh, you two seemingly attempted a merging method that the Empress usually calls the ''memory exchange''. Well, not you personally like your soul attempted it. Anyway, the concept behind it is very simple, when two souls feel like theirpatibility is questionable, they can just relive each other''s lives in a kind of fast-forwarded way. So, it means that you''ve lived the entire 90 years of her life. But she lived the entirety of your 300 years of life. Actually, from what I can see, she seems to have given up and died at like the 100 year mark," Four exined with difficulty.


    ''Wait what? 90 years of this woman''s life?'' Evin thought as he nced at the body.


    "Anyway, when the process is happening, it doesn''t feel all that fast-forwarded And by using this method, they can quickly judge howpatible they are with each other. In some extreme cases, they would even feel a rebound damage to their souls if it fails. And after this particr ''memory exchange'', you turned out to be fine, kind of But she failed and is now effectively dead," after the girl finished speaking, she sighed with relief and Evin could see beads of fine sweat appearing on her forehead.


    "Please give me a few moments to digest this," Evin said. He was now properly overwhelmed. For a few moments, he tried to his best to make heads and tails of the cryptic words Four spewed out and finally made his own exnation.


    ''So this woman tried to absorb my soul, but failed. Then, our two souls automatically tried merging with each other (for some reason). The method of merging being this thing called the ''memory exchange'' method, which basically has the two souls live each other''s lives (for some reason). Supposedly, I lived out her life without issues, so I turned out to be fine, but the woman did not, so now she''s dead,'' Evin concluded.


    "If what you''re saying is true and I lived out her entire life, then why don''t I remember anything?"


    "Oh, that''s because it''s all here. This soul core. It belongs to you. It''s your trophy," the Four said, plucked out a dark orb from inside the dead woman''s body and threw it to Evin.


    It looked very weird to see an Authority(supposed) of a World, unparalleled power to go about digging through some random corpse''s insides and casually throwing a dark orb towards him.


    ''But since it was Four, maybe it was fitting?'' Evin thought as his hands felt the cold, dark orb in his hands. Aside from the slightly eerie feeling it gave off, Evin couldn''t really feel anything that implied a connection to his memories.


    ''What am I supposed to do with this?''


    "Now, you''ll learn of a method to work out those things in these things under me, as per the Empress'', ugh, wishes and constions," Four sighed annoyedly.


    ''What? The Empress? THE Empress? Wait, Twelve calls her mother, right? Is Four one of her children too? They look quite simr too''

 Chapter 166: The body of the woman

    Chapter 166: The body of the woman


    His curiousity began to spike to very dangerous levels.


    "How does this involve the Empress?" Evin continued his questions but an annoyed-psycho-re from Four shut him up.


    "You know what? Don''t fucking worry about it, alright? Just learn well under me, burn that fucking giant tree down to the ground and you can fucking leave," Four suddenly burst out at Evin.


    The boy tactfully shut his mouth.


    ''Why do you speak without pausing when you''re swearing at someone?'' Evinined in his head.


    Four walked back and forth in an annoyed way, her eyes darting about, until she finally stopped and stood in front of the silent Evin. She stared at Evin for a few seconds, her mouth twitching itself into a smile.


    ''What does she want? Is she trying to kill me?''


    "Urgh, sorry about that. After you learn how to absorb those thing, we''ll have you learn some other spells, one of them being a spell called ''Soul re''. Or ''Soul me''. I forgot," Four apologized awkwardly and continued talking in a broken pattern: "Anyway, it''ll help you burn that tree down. But you''ll have to do it in one go, or else you''ll die. Well, not die, since I''ll have to help you out. You could fail. But even if you fail there''s not penalty so don''t worry about it"


    Evin nodded slightly.


    "Well, thanks in advance for teaching me," he said softly.


    Four nodded with agreement and her forced smile turned a bit more natural.


    "Oh, and you don''t have to worry about going hungry, or the outside World. Twelve did something and made it so that time goes slower here. Maybe you''ll feel a bit hungry in about a month or so, which is about ten and a half hours in the main world but not for now," Four said, surprisingly normally this time.


    Evin expected her to continue talking, but for whatever reason, Four went intoplete silence. Evin looked at her and found the other to be seemingly focusing on something, with her eyes closed and her hand on her chin.


    ''I''m not exactly sure what''s going on, but I guess I''ll have to wait?''


    An hour had passed since then, and Four was still standing silently. At some point, her smile had disappeared, leaving only her determined face for Evin to look at.


    ''Should I say something to her?'' Evin asked this question in his head time and time again. And after each time, the desire to ask got greater and greater, but correspondingly, the act of asking also became harder and harder.


    ''No I''ll give it another ten minutes and I''ll definitely ask afterwards,'' Evin thought resolutely and shook his head with a shrug.


    He then walked towards the edge of the golden barrier.


    Out of curiosity, Evin tried to walk through the barrier at first, but he was blocked off. He didn''t bother trying to break through it, since he was very confident he wouldn''t be able to. He couldn''t use the Worlds here, and he couldn''t use mana, so he just didn''t want to bother.


    Instead, he spent his time thinking about the changes he was experiencing at the moment.


    Evin realized that he had developed a few habits that he didn''t have. Certain words that he didn''t really use before, certain likes and dislikes that popped out of nowhere, and certain thoughts that he didn''t have before.


    Since he had awoken, Evin was craving something sweet. He was pretty sure that if he was to crave something, it would be coffee. But apparently, time inside this ce flowed differently, so it wasn''t really time for him to feel hungry yet.


    ''But she did say that I will feel hunger in a month or so, which was about ten and a half hours in the main world''


    If Evin could count these numbers as urate representations of how time flowed here, he could find the exact rate of how time passed inside here.


    Evin did some simple calctions and realized that time flowed at a speed of about one to hundred inside this World. The number seemed pretty rounded up, so he decided it was so.


    ''But since she mentioned a month or so doesn''t it mean that we''ll be staying here for quite a long time? Well, I suppose it''s expected. She''s teaching me a new form of magic after all,'' Evin sighed.He wondered how he was going to spend all his time in this nd ce, with nothing to do


    He asionally nced towards the reinforced window and the ray of light that came from the gap that Evin left. He could tell that it was daytime outside, and he was wondering if the corrupted souls would be flying about. Twelve only told him to beware the night, after all.


    Thinking of the corrupted souls, Evin looked at the woman''s naked body lying close by. She was lying on her back, with part of her chest ripped open. From the spots where her flesh should''ve been, a pale blue light eerily shining without stop. It was probably Evin''s imagination, but he felt like some of the ripped off parts were regenerating a tiny bit.


    But it was true that she looked much betterpared to thest time Evin saw her, with none of the popped veins and the crazed expression she had.


    Whenever Evin had nothing to do, he would find himself staring at the woman. Especially her face. It just invoked so much pity in him, he couldn''t just ignore it. There was something inside him was constantly screaming at him to care and sympathize with the woman.


    Evin understood why after he learned of what happened from Four.


    He had spent 90 years with this woman... So it was natural he would feel something for this woman. It would be weird if he didn''t feel anything. Even if he didn''t remember it himself, it was should be etched into his soul. At some point, this woman was basically him, after all.


    A certain feeling of unease appeared in his head. A need of some sorts.


    Evin thought about it a lot, but in the end, he couldn''t make himself do it. ''What''s the point?'' he would say to himself and stop. But as time passed, it was getting a bit too hard to ignore this urge of his.


    ''Fuck'' he cursed in his head and walked over to the woman.


    He closed the woman''s eyes. He then straightened her head and her limbs into a more proper position.


    After staring at her for a bit, Evin tried to change her shocked expression into something more calm. He then pulled out a nket from his wardrobe and covered the woman''s body with it.


    Sitting next to her, Evin''s hands clutched the Dark Blue orb in his hands, before he tried putting it inside the huge cavity on her chest. The orb rolled into an indent on her mutted chest... but the woman''s expression was as calm as the blue skies.


    Evin paused a bit, wondering what the hell he was doing.


    Almost unconsciously, his hands began to gather the woman''s hair, slowly fixing it into a single braid.


    "Shit..." he sighed, tears streaming from his eyes.

 Chapter 167: Boredom

    Chapter 167: Boredom


    A day had passed since, and Evin was sitting on his bed, with the body of the woman lying next to him motionlessly. He had sat her onto the bed at some point and dressed her up with some clothing he found in his a Nasst''s room. She now looked like some life-size doll, buti t wasn''t like she decayed, so there really were no physical, orfort-rted problems, like the rotting smell of a normal body. Evin felt like there would some problems rting to morality, but it wasn''t an issue for him.


    Evin looked at the woman next to him and a calming feeling arose in his heart. For some reason, he really didn''t like the fact that she was lying on the cold, wooden floor. He had felt much more at peace when he saw the woman on the bed. There was still the giant gaping hole on her chest, but that wasn''t something Evin could solve so it didn''t bother him too much.


    ''Hmm... I wonder how am I going to absorb her into my own soul?''


    Frankly he was terrified with the prospect of learning what had happened when he was living as this woman. And to think that he was going to y and absorb every other soul that was roaming outside made him feel extremely guilty. They were after all, spirits like he was... and from what he could understand, ones that came from before the age of the Empire.


    Should he refuse to kill them? Or was he doing them good by releasing them from this torture? Is there really no other way?


    There wouldn''t have been any problems if the thing with the woman didn''t happen. Evin was sure he would only think of them as neutral enemies and get it over with. Now that hebeled them as individuals who had their own thoughts and beliefs, suddenly things be moreplicated.


    ''Such childish thoughts...'' Evinughed dryly after thinking a bit. Who knew who these souls were? At this point, there was no point in mulling over morality. It would be best for him to just pretend they were dead already and that he was just releasing their souls into the afterlife.Even if he knew it was a pretty little lie, he knew it was best to believe in it.


    He then looked at Four, who had lied down onto the ground at some point. If not for the rhythmic breathing of her chest, Evin would think she was dead.


    The previous day, Evin mustered up the courage and tried to pull Four out of her daze after practicing his Authority Style for a bit. But he found that he wasn''t able to wake her no matter how he tried. His strength wasn''t enough to even pull out a single strand of hair from the girl, and no matter how loud he shouted in her ears, she would stay still like she had blocked out the whole world for the time being.


    At this point, he realized that all the pain of deliberating over whether to bother her or not waspletely meaningless.


    "But at least I don''t have to agonize over the thing now," Evin murmured as he stared at Four.


    "Wake up!" he suddenly shouted.


    ''Like this, I can just shout at her without thinking about it,'' Evin thought with satisfaction and screamed again.


    Screaming felt good. Though not always. Evin used to scream randomly a lot when he was spirit and when he overdid it, it just felt forced and depressing.


    He sighed and shook his head. His shoulders automatically went for a shrug, but Evin managed to stop it in time. This was a new habit that he realized he had developed. At first, he didn''t notice it, but eventually, he realized he looked very weird when he was doing it. Maybe a bit too feminine. It was probably fine since he was a kid now, but when he became old enough, it would start looking weird.


    Also, it was unusually distinct. If he ever had to conceal his identity, it might bepromising in one of those rare unlucky cases.


    ''I should probably practice my martial arts while waiting, but I''m just not feeling it today, so I won''t even bother,'' he decided. As he was rolling on the bed, being bored in general, a groaning sound came from Four. Evin''s attention was instantly drawn, as he jumped from the bed andnded next to the girl.


    "It would''ve been nice if you didn''t fucking scream randomly," the girl said with an annoyed re and Evin blushed slightly.


    "I''m sorry," he could only apologize sincerely.


    "Fucking whatever," Four said and handed Evin what seemed to a very high-quality scroll.


    Evin realized that Four had two, maybe three different moods. Shy, with a broken speech. Confident, with lots of swearing. And maybe yandere, considering what she did to Evin when he was in the World of Time.


    "All the bullshit you need should be in there waiting for you. I''ll be waiting here for however long it fucking takes you to burn the tree. But do fucking hurry, I don''t want to wait too long. I might get bored and start fucking this woman after reviving her," Four dered crossly and jumped onto the bed.


    "?" Evin looked at her questioningly, and the other seemed to realize what she just said.


    "Fuck you," Four cursed and lied down onto the bed.


    ''Alright, then,'' Evin shook his head and delved into the scroll.


    But reading through the information on the scrolls, he was properly astonished. As far as he could tell there was probably about a books'' worth of content inside the scroll, all exining the various details of this failed World of Death, its inhabitants, its magic, and its rules.


    Four''s writing style was very detailed and easy to read, patiently exining every little new detail that popped out in the scroll. Most of the exnations were the impressions she had after observing it for a long time. But it also included somements from the Empress as well.


    Evin was pleasantly surprised that Four didn''t write as terribly as she spoke. There were some ''fucks'' and ''shits'' here and there, but it was mostly tame.


    [This scroll is mostly about Soul Magic and its origins. The nomenture, Soul Magic, was first used by the Empress, before she forced everyone else to use it as well. There will be a lot of things that she named, so to make that clear, if you see this (EN  Empress'' Nomenture) after reading something, it means that it was named by the Empress, and that she will probably be angry at you if you use a any kind of different name for them]


    The book began a bit weirdly, but Evin just shrugged it off as the people from Alvox just being very defensive about the names of things.


    [First, we will talk about the origins of this World, the World of Death(EN). Frankly, the best way I could describe the state of this World is that it''s a mess. This is the best way. The Empress will tell you that it''s a ''world filled with Soul energy in an otherwise dead environment, plus trial(failed)'' (EN), but in the end it''s a mess. Let me tell you why it''s a mess:]


    Evin''s curiosity was piqued as he read through the lines and lines of information.


    He learned that this was one of the first projects the Empress worked on before she developed the Worlds. It could almost be called a prototype World. Although it didn''t really exin anything in greater detail (as Evin would expect), he learned that this World was supposed to be one of the Worlds avable to the mages, but in the end, failed and ended up bing a kind of test dummy for the Empress'' ideas. He learned how she tried the idea of a making a trial for mages, about how the Instruments of Death(EN) came to be randomly, how the Soul Tree(EN)es to be, and how this whole world was exclusive only to him.


    Evin suddenly realized he was learning information that he probably wasn''t supposed to. Probably not even most super-imposers knew about these things. But what he was most interested in was the Empress.


    Evin really didn''t know much about the Empress, but she sounded very different from how he imagined her. Perhaps because of her uninvolving approach to how she managed her Empire, Evin thought that she would have a more cold and detached persona?


    Shaking his head, he continued to read.

 Chapter 168: Soul Magic (EN)

    Chapter 168: Soul Magic (EN)


    [As for the origins of Soul Magic, it was a rather rare ability for Divine Essence(Divine Essence= mana) users. The Divine Essence users were divided into two groups: Hex and Magi. Hex for females and Magi for males]


    [It isn''t very clear exactly how these two names became popr, where one of them means witch, while the other means wizard, or magician. The most widely epted exnation was that female divine essence users were, for whatever reason, very talented at obscure and mystical magic, like soul-rted magic, illusions, memories, death and life, etc; while on the other hand, Magi were much more talented at direct and much more easily understood magic, like the various elemental magics, self-strengthening magic and aura magic]


    Evin was pleasantly surprised by this piece of information about the wider uses of mana. And judging from the names of some of the magic, most of them seemed very simr to the Worlds, except of course, Death magic and aura magic to a degree.


    [But that isn''t the focus of this scroll. The focus of this scroll is Soul magic]


    [The blue spore-like things that the Corrupted Soul Tree(EN) spews out is Soul energy (EN). As you may have noticed, your soul is getting strengthened thanks to this, but remember that, it isn''t nearly as effective as absorbing the corrupted souls]


    [And if you do it right there''s no need to worry about your soul merging or something, like what happened with the woman. It might be a bit confusing and weird at first, but you''ll get used to it in no time]


    [Just get out there and consume those souls!]


    [This is actually the whole point of this ce. And it''s very easy for you to do this, since the corrupted souls inside this World had just woken up, while your own soul is much stronger and denser, albeit a bit old and spent]


    [And it''s especially easy for you, since I''m here to make sure you don''t fuck up. So don''t worry about consequences that might happen to you afterward, and just go for it! Consume everyone!]


    ''I feel like my move-set is bing darker and darker as the days go on. Dark magic, Illusions, Gravity, and now Souls. Never thought I would be the consumer of souls, heh,'' Evin thought wryly.


    [Soul magic can widely be divided into three parts. Strengthening one''s soul, Molding one''s soul, and Burning one''s soul (all EN)]


    [Strengthening, as you might guess, is just consuming souls. You go outside, beat up some souls and then consume them. This is basically murder, yes, but don''t worry about it. If it helps, just think of the corrupted souls outside like eggs, or meat. Everyone knows killing things is bad, but we still butcher millions of animals every day, so we can eat them. It''s technically evil, but it''s a widely epted evil, so it doesn''t count]


    Evin read through the scroll, and realized that the more he read, the more aggressive Four''s writings were bing. As for murdering these souls, Evin felt that he already had this conversation with himself, so he wasn''t going to bother with it again.


    Four then continued to exin some of the methods to consume these souls. To exin it very simply, there were a lot. It was even okay to absorb the soul by direct contact if one was experienced and had a much stronger soul than the other. But this direct method had too much of a negative effect on a mage''s brain and mind. If one wasn''t careful, they would be have a mess of different personalities, all vying for power over their body. Four then listed a bunch of obscure methods that tried its best to calm the souls like sacrificial arts, prayer arts, soul soothing methods, cleansing a soul''stent regrets, etc.


    [But in my opinion, the method most suitable for you and your situation is to create your own soul-tethered weapon. These weapons can be anything, even that skinshifter inside your shadow, but I don''t rmend you turn her into one. This is because the weapon''s main job is to work as a buffer between you and the soul you''re absorbing, while also giving you ess to the energies of those souls.]


    [So, if that skinshifter bes your soul-tethered weapon, her personality would be riddled with other ones, slowly turning her mad. So, it''s usually best to have a non-sentient object for this role. Obviously, since it contains so many souls, the weapon would be cursed at some point, constantly trying its best to fuck you up. This can be solved with some methods, but we''ll get to that when we get there.]


    Evin really did prefer this method. The others all sounded very time-consuming and impractical, while this one had a much simpler and easier to understand.


    [In any case, just choose your preferred weapon type and tell me, I''ll prepare a suitable one for you]


    Evin''s released his mind from the scroll, and showed Four his spear.


    "Can you turn this spear into my soul-tethered weapon?" he asked.


    Four nced back briefly and shook her head.


    "That one has unsuitable materials. Give it to me and I''ll make one simr," she said and beckoned Evin. Taking the spear, she added: "You read too slow"


    "Sorry, ma''am," Evin apologized and his mind reentered the scroll.


    [After you get your soul-tethered weapon, well, now you just have to y souls with it. If you''re having trouble properly wielding the thing, don''t worry. Remember that this isn''t your real body. This is your soul and even though you can''t do everything you imagine, you can easily make it so that you''re stronger and faster here, while also recreating some of the effects of your spells]


    Evin was instantly interested. Ever since he was able to use magic, he always felt like he could do something to affect the situations that arose in his path. But when he faced the woman, he truly felt feeble and useless. It reminded him too much of the time when the mage from Smallwall town was trying to kill him through Norna.


    Four exined that to recreate the effects of his spells, Evin had to recreate it as an illusion, before willing the Soul energy around to support the spell. Apparently, this was simr to how peak World of Thoughts mages would turn their illusions into reality.


    [If you''re thinking this will turn the World of Thoughts into the World of Creation, then you should probably give up on these ambitions of yours. Souls and reality don''t really work simrly...] Four was quick to dash Evin''s hopes, but he wasn''t discouraged.


    ''Well, I guess I can at least pretend to be a super-imposer of the World of Thoughts for the time being... One that can only use below average Half-core spells...''

 Chapter 169: Soul Molding

    Chapter 169: Soul Molding


    From what Evin could understand, this was just something that he should be able to do after some practice, so he wasn''t very worried about it.He was more interested in the next part of the scroll.


    [When you''ve collected a certain amount of souls you can try your hand at Molding. By molding your soul, you can basically give it more functions. The end result is called a Soul Mutation (EN). It''s simr to the concept of mutating your body with Vital Energy, but not quite Okay, let''s give you an example. After you''ve yed around with your soul for a while, you will develop the power to freely feel it inbat. At that point, you can try adding some extra features to it: you can make your eyesight and hearing better by modifying your soul''s ears and eyes. Obviously, this wouldn''t show on your actual body, but it <em>will</em> affect your sensory abilities.]


    [Unfortunately, this is extremely difficult to do for untrained Soul mages, so I highly rmend you to not try it yourself but as a special service, I''m willing to help you with the molding of one of the following things]


    ''Hmm? Four''s gonna pimp my soul?'' Evin thought amusedly and looked at the possible modifications.


    Eyes, ears, nose, skin, and nails. ording to Four, with the exception of nails, each organ would be much more sensitivepared to before. His eyes could beparable to half an eagle, his hearing would be upgraded to the level of rabbits, his nose could be so that he could smell something from much further away, while his skin could be more sensitive to air vibrations.The nail was, for the time being, another offensive option against souls, but it would be a long time before he could use it against other beings.


    ''The lineup is a bit unexciting, but it is what it is''


    Four exined that if Evin was able to strengthen his nails enough, he would be able to wound an enemy''s soul directly, making it a very difficult attack to block, but Evin judged that there should be some other way for him to attack the enemy''s souls. He still hadn''t reached the part about the Burning of the Soul, after all.


    ''The nose, skin and nails seem interesting, but it just can''tpared to eyesight and hearing. If I''m not wrong, about 80% of the total senses thate into my brain should be visual ones, while the vast majority of the rest should be hearing,''


    Thus, the most enticing choice was obviously the eye.


    ''I''ve heard that eagles could see ants on the ground from 10-story buildings, so half of that would be a 5-story building? But the sheer amount of things I will start seeing might be a bit annoying''


    Too much information might be even detrimental in the long run.


    Hearing on the other hand was a really nice passive buff to have.


    ''I''m guessing I''ll be more alert of my surroundings, and it should also help me detect ambushes and whatnot when I need to,'' he judged.


    Evin read further and saw morements that helped him choose.


    [You can choose to see with your normal eye, or your soul-modified eyes, so don''t worry about being constantly overwhelmed by random information. I''ll also include a number of Molding methods that I''ve heard of (which I really don''t rmend for the current you to try, by the way). Once you experience this molding process yourself, you should be able to learn how to do it on yourself kind of But if you fail somehow and fuck yourself up, well, don''te crying to me.]


    Evin glimpsed through the list of mutations and he couldn''t help but feel overwhelmed. Even with Four trying to help out Evin by sorting the methods by its difficulty, there were still hundreds of mutations that were possible to achieve with one''s soul. From the rtively tame ones, like the basic upgrade to one''s senses, there were absurd things like developing a second brain inside your soul, so one could multitask. Obviously, thest one seemed straight-up impossible to achieve for Evin.


    There was also a method to have one rip up a part of his soul to act as a very niche form of sentry. For whatever reason, this one really interested Evin, even though he knew it was vastly useless.


    Shaking his head, he focused on the other mutations.


    Aftering through the list, Evin deemed most of the other mutations useless, as they were simr to how the nails upgrade worked. They were just methods to attack another''s soul, or some kind ofbat upgrade. And most of them had some very detrimental side effects as well.


    For example, there was a mutation for one''s feet, where a mage could make them stronger and springier. Aside from the general boost to speed, a mage couldpress them slightly to explosively dash at a direction in unbelievable speeds. This mutation was a big upgrade to one''s mobility, and if it didn''t have any side effects, Evin might''ve actually considered using them.


    But, at the end of the day, the mutation was made in their souls and their actual bodies were not affected. Even though the mage could achieve those speeds, a normal human''s feet just weren''t made for movement like that. Sooner orter, they would break and fall apart. Four made some research on this one specifically, and realized that only if a mage was prepared from childhood, constantly having their bones and muscles strengthened, they just weren''t able to use this ability without their whole body breaking down.


    Moreover, after reading through the abilities that Four added in the scroll, Evin realized that Soul rted abilities were much stricter in their usepared to other magic.


    There wasn''t much freedom to it, and if one was to deviate from the norm without full knowledge of what they were doing, they were most likely going to have a bad time. This made the branch of magic a bit uninspiring to learn for some, as it was mostly just trying to learn and better something that existed already, instead of mostly discovering things on their own.


    ''Well, it''s not that it''s impossible to be creative, but it''s highly rmended to not be creative...''


    "Or perhaps magic was rigid like this in the old days, when the big organizations didn''t hoard magical knowledge behind contributions and whatnot Wait, I''m pretty sure they would''ve operated in a pretty simr manner now, but it''s just that Four is very generous," Evin finally concluded.


    In any case, the part about Molding one''s soul had just ended and Evin continued on.


    [The final, and probably the most popr use for Soul magic, the Burning of the soul,] the scroll began.

 Chapter 170: Soul Burning

    Chapter 170: Soul Burning


    [Technically, your soul could be used instead of mana. Sure it would hurt like hell and sure it would probably debilitate you beyond saving, but it would work. You probably don''t know this, but way back in the past, the people who could see mana were pitied by the people. A sad bunch of madmen, who would continuously talk about some colorful blue stuff. After all, no one in the World knew what magic even was, so there really wasn''t a big difference between mages and non-mages. All those stories from your home Earth, which usually depict ancient wizards and witches being much stronger than their modern counterparts... Well, logically thinking, it just isn''t usible, as shown by the example here on Alvox.]


    [In any case, after a period of experimentation, the ones who were able to see mana learned how to cast magic using their souls. Screaming from pain and their whole body drenched with sweat, they would perform some sort of impossible deed. Due to how magic worked back then, every one of their miracles would be different. But, one universal feature among them was that their miracles were extremely weak. Thus at first people saw them as intriguing, or even entertaining, but people started to notice that their miracles were bing stronger. If one was able to create tiny sparks in the air, after a year of practice, it would be a huge fireball in their hands. Due to this fact, mages as a species began to be hunted extensively. It was like every non-mage in the position of power decided that these weird people were threats to their power all at the same time.]


    [Mages were branded as devils and were hunted for more than two centuries. Anyway... what happened next is super, duper interesting, but I''m going on a long tangent here, so I''ll have to skip it for the time being. Maybe you''ll be able to dig out information about this in the future. Tee-hee!] Four suddenly betrayed Evin.


    "What?! Why did you even go on this stupid tangent in the first ce, then?" Evin couldn''t help but shout out. Furiously, he began reading the ensuing chapter, only to find out that Four resumed her talk about Soul Magic like nothing happened. Evin wanted to rage, but he figured that there wouldn''t really be much he could do about.


    ''It''s probably something stupid and boring anyway, like some important king giving birth to a mage child, and then deciding to secretly raise it. Then the mage child would learn of the oppression his kind receives and decides to avenge his race or something...'' Evin thought, before shaking his head.


    [In any case, mages learned how to use mana instead of their soul and realized that they worked very simrly. This fact made mana into something almost holy. Mages hypothesized that mana was the soul of Alvox, thus named it Divine Essence. Well, how could they know if they were correct or not? No one was there to tell them they were wrong. Mana... was just mana. The natural energy that pervaded Alvox''s atmosphere. From what the Empress said, it was aplete coincidence that the soul had simr properties to mana.]


    ''Why is Four so specific about this piece of information? Do I smell conspiracy? Soul equals Mana! You''re being fooled by the Empress?!'' Evin''s attention span was reaching its limits, judging by how easily he was being distracted.


    [In any case, this is mostly just trivia, so it''s quite useless in practice. Let''s talk about how burning your soul can actually be useful,] Four suddenly changed the topic and began to exin how casting magic with one''s soul worked.


    Evin felt a bit suspicious about how Four wrote this part, but he couldn''t really go and ask the Empress to exin herself, so he could only focus on the matter at hand.


    From what Evin could understand, souls were used as a kind of buff to one''s spell. For example, if Evin cast a normal me, and then burned some of his soul alongside it, the me would be stronger and get some mystical properties. The most prominent one being its ability to burn literally anything. Even water would burn if it touched such a me. How it would burn exactly, Evin had no idea. But he had lots of time to test this out, so he wasn''t worried.


    But these mes weren''t that over-powered, since it''s mystical properties would die out if Evin either stopped burning his soul, or just canceled his spell.


    ''Finally...'' Evin thought excitedly. He finally learned how to burn the Corrupted Soul Tree down. He would have to try out many different methods to calcte exactly how much soul he needed to burn the whole tree down, but he was guessing it wasn''t a small number.


    Evin continued to read and found that most of its applications to spells were fixed and absolute.


    For example, a water body made by burning a soul (let''s just call it soul-burnt) would have healing properties. Even if Evin used the water to attack someone, the healing properties would not die out.


    A soul-burnt Earth spell would get the ability to partially turn immaterial. Evin didn''t how that would be beneficial, but surely someone found a niche use for it.


    A soul-burnt Wind spell would have an invigorating effect, washing away the fatigue and drowsiness of its recipients. A refreshing whip of air...


    A soul-burnt Light spell would boost one''s psychology, where anyone who was fell under its light would feel calm and clear-headed. Four even exined how it could cure insanity and some mental illnesses if applied over a long time.


    A soul-burnt Dark spell, on the other hand would passively fear the one who was caught up inside it. If Evin left someone inside his Dark Room for a certain amount of time while burning his soul, the one inside his spell would apparently go insane.


    [As for the Conceptual Worlds, there really isn''t much research on it to say something concrete. I wish I could do more research on this topic, but I''ve been banned from doing so due to reasons, so that''s not happening anytime soon. Maybe you can solve its mysteries one day,] Four added afterwards.


    She then wrote about the side-effects of using one''s own soul. A mage wouldn''t die from using their soul, but they would definitely be extremely weak and debilitated. This would show on their physical bodies as well.


    And also using one''s soul was akin to self-muttion, so most mages preferred to use the souls of others. The effect wasn''t as good as using their own and also a bit wasteful, since the souls would burn up for good, but it was the only method if one didn''t want to end up like some bloodless ghoul.


    [But there is a method to turn these corrupted souls into something that will stay with you forever. After all, you can''t just burn them all up and let them be free. You have to be, uhh, what''s it called... enviromentally aware! You have to recycle those souls! And the method is...! to forgeraw souls into Soul Masks. I guess you could say that It''s something that binds foreign souls into your own and turning them into Soul energy. There should be enough souls in this World to make one good-quality Soul Mask.]


    ''Four''s metal as fuck,'' Evin suddenly realized.


    ording to Four, Evin could have many Soul Masks, all of which had the ability to recharge itself over time, but It''s effect was quiteckingpared to having one good Soul Mask. Four went a bit into the details and exined that a good one could also develop the ability to transform mana into Soul energy as well.


    This meant that Evin could use all the things he learned about Soul magic in the main World, since he would have a stable source of Soul energy. Excitedly, Evin read further into the scroll.


    After this point, most of the things Four wrote turned into random trivia. And at the end of the scroll, Evin was able to see some of guidelines for this World.


    [The barrier around us will stay around for as long as you need, but you will be able to bypass it freely from now on. You can think of the barrier as a safe zone to recuperate. The corrupted souls won''t appear at day, so you will have to hunt them at night as fast as possible, since your goal would be to create a single Soul Mask.]


    [Actually, I''m not really worried about the speed. In my calctions you would be finished after a few days or so, since the souls here are super weak. As long as you don''t fuck up somehow and start merging with a soul again, we should be fine. Then you''ll get to forging the Soul Mask, which might take a bit longer.]


    [Another problem are the Instruments of Death. If I''m remembering correctly, they be stronger and smarter over time, so please don''t ignore, or underestimate them. And I''m pretty sure I don''t have to remind you of this, but don''t ever try to get close to them. If you somehow end up near them, don''t think and just run. Even I won''t be able to save you if you get caught by them.]


    ''I will definitely follow your instructions,'' Evin thought in agreement.


    [One more thing. Don''t bother me unless absolutely necessary. If you have questions, prepare them now and ask them all at once. After I answer your questions, I''ll mostly be unconscious, like yesterday]


    Evin''s consciousness appeared outside the scroll and he began thinking of the questions he wanted to ask. Four was still lying on the bed, seemingly getting herselffortable. She was, after all, going to stay in one position for a very long time.


    After a few minutes, Evin finished thinking and walked towards Four.


    "You''ve said that I can see my memories from when I was living as this woman. I wasn''t able to find the method to see it on the scroll," he asked.


    "Oh, that I''ve decided to show it to you right before we leave this ce The contents they might be a bit distracting for you after all," Four repliedzily.


    The current Four seemed to be the chiller, non-abusive one. It was a bit hard for Evin to get used to, since Four''s way of talking was too different from the way she spoke.


    "I''ve also decided on the Molding of my eyes. When should we begin the process?"


    "A bit boring, but I suppose it''s understandable... since this mutation''s size is small, although a bit detail oriented, we should have enough Soul energy to perform it here... So we''ll do it now...e here. Though do understand... that there will be a lot of pain involved," Four said and began the grueling procedure of changing Evin''s eye structure.

 Chapter 171: The Killing

    Chapter 171: The Killing


    Since the eyes were extremely close to Evin''s brain, the amount of pain he felt was simply unimaginable. One would think that if one was working on someone''s eyes, they would be a bit careful, but not Four. She just couldn''t be bothered with caution, as streaks of blue lines would be constantly burned into existence inside Evin''s burning eyes. But the silver lining was that she was extremely confident in her ability, so at least Evin didn''t have to go through the pain for too long.


    Evin''s n to memorize every detail about this procedure, so he could do it by himself in the future was also thwarted, as he was too busy trying to not faint from the pain.


    After everything was finished, Four exined how his new ability worked.


    "Just will for your soul to change your eyes and you will be able to feel the changes. Remember, after you''ve activated your ability you won''t be able to move your eyes like a normal human... you will have to move your entire body to see sideways, or whatever. Also, when you first try it out, you will feel extremely weird... you have to get used to that somehow," Four said.


    With his eyes closed, Evin warily tried out the mutation and found his whole being rejecting the state of his eyes. There was just something horribly, horribly wrong with it. Like someone just chucked an extra set of eyes on his face after removing the old ones.


    He tried opening his eyes to see its effects and a found a cacophony of new unique colors appearing in his vision.


    There was no way for him to describe these colors, as it was basically the same as trying to describe what normal color looks like to a colorblind person. He could only say that the previously nd room looked much more colorful and bright.


    The other thing he noticed was his enhanced eyesight. He could clearly count the tiny cracks and indents on the floors and the walls with his almost unnerving ability to focus on details, but still have a good enough wide-angle vision. He was pretty sure he would be able to read a book from forty steps away without problems and still be able to catch the movements of an insect that happened to be walking in the corner of his vision.


    But if someone asked him if he always wanted it to be like this, the answer would be a resounding no. Evin could feel his brain trying to process the excess information that was assaulting it every second. Not to mention the nauseating difort that this vision of his brought him. Perhaps he would get used to it at some point, but for now, he just wanted to see normally for a second.Evin willed his soul to cancel his eagle eyes and his sight turned normal again.


    Rubbing his eyes, Evin looked towards Four.


    "What about the Soul Masks?"


    "Hmm, we''ll tackle that when you''ve... obtained the souls that were born alongside the Soul Tree... But if you just want to learn how to do it... Well, we can try turning her into a small one..." Four asked, pointing at the woman.


    Evin''s mind nked slightly. Something inside him was violently against it, like someone just suggested he should sell his sister for some quick cash. It was just too terribly offputting inside his head, he just couldn''t help but feel repulsed by it.


    "I guess that''s a no. In that case you will have to go out at nights and hunt. Since it''s like this, we can only wait. If you have no more questions, then I shall be waiting here until you find the amount of souls Oh, before I forget, here''s your spear Although it''s quite sturdy, be careful not to hit anything with this part," Four replied and gave Evin a slim spear, pointing at the blue glowing part on it.


    Evin took the spear in his hands and felt that it was almost abnormally light in his hands. Curiously, he nced at its details and found that its sharp part was simrly long like he liked, but it also had a rather dangerous feel to it. At the area of its handle was a transparent blue glowing part, which Evin guessed was where the weapon stored its souls.


    "Cut your hand with it," Four ordered.


    Evin looked at Four with some wariness before obliging. The de dug into his hands like hot knife through butter. But instead of pain, Evin felt connection with the spear. The spear obviously didn''t have any thoughts or something like that, but it did have a very clear feel to it. Evin felt like he could easily tell where it would be even if he lost contact with it that kind of connection.


    "Since it''s still daytime practice your magic and then go outside to hunt when the soulse out. It might take some time for your spear to fully absorb the souls so do be careful of that," Four said, casually waving her hands.


    Evin thanked Four and walked outside the barrier. Sure enough, the previously imprable barrier let him through without issue and Evin walked outside the mansion with light steps.


    This time his mood was much better since the World was not so unknown to him now. And he now had a proper way to deal with all the problems that might appear in his path. He looked to the sky and found that it seemed to be noon or so, since the sun''s location was rtively high up in the air.


    At the edge of the city, the Instruments of Death were loitering around like always, diligently corroding everything they brushed against. The Giant Tree on the other hand, was as imposing as ever, making Evin doubt his resolution to burn the whole thing down to ashes.


    ''How many souls would I need for that?'' Evin couldn''t help but think once more. With a self-depreciating smile, he walked around the ruined town, appreciating the view. He always felt that there was something grand, something holy about a ce like this. This was also the reason he liked to wander around abandoned ruins and battlefields when he was a spirit.


    He soon found a suitable spot and tried to recreate the effects of his magic. He imagined illusions of himself performing the spells and willed the Soul energy around him to help him out. He could feel the Soul energy in the atmosphere trying to help him out with his spells, just like Four exined in the scroll.


    When Evin tried to inspect these energies, he found that it acted very simrly to the energy from the World of Thoughts. The way it moved through his body and liked to gather around his head but there was something a bit different.


    "Maybe it includes some hints of the energies from the World of Emotions?" he muttered out, while ying around with his old spells. Throwing the matter out of his head, Evin focused on his spellcasting.


    Five hourster, Evin was confident that he was half as strong as usual. This was because some of the abilities that Evin tried to work out were extremely difficult to pull off. Namely his Floating spell, the Shockwave spell that Nasst taught him, and the Compressed Air attacks that he himself devised. On top of that, his Suffocation spell needed some work as well.


    Basically all the spells that required him to use the World of Storms were very ineffective. Evin wasn''t sure why this happened, but it wasn''t that big of a problem.


    He wasn''t nning to use the Air attacks and the Suffocation spell, as he was fairly sure the corrupted souls didn''t need to breathe... but he really wanted his ability to float in the battlefield. He tried to dumb the process down and tried recreating his old, simpler version of the spell and that seemed to work Although it was quite difficult for him to get used to the old spell again.


    Thankfully, his other Worlds were rtively okay, considering that they were, after all, illusions that took on life. But somewhere in Evin''s mind, an idea just took root that convinced him that these illusions would never be as good as the real one.


    Evin didn''t know if it was some sort of a mental block, or something else entirely. But he didn''t care too much. He was feeling much more confident than before, since his World of Fire spells were working. Although he really didn''t have anything that could be called a proper World of Fire Spell. It was just the most basic imagined me.


    ''I can''t believe I gave up on trying to make magic work so easily the other time,'' Evin thought with some disappointment in himself.


    "Perhaps I was just too scared and stressed. And to my defense, I didn''t know how this Soul energy worked, after all," he muttered.


    Looking at the sky, Evin could tell that he had about an hour to prepare for the souls.


    ''I suppose I just close my eyes now andmit to the killings...'' he sighed, smiling very inappropriately.

 Chapter 172: Plans

    Chapter 172: ns


    In the highest tform of the ck Tower, Two Tales was patiently waiting for The Empress to arrive. The sun''s presence loomed beyond the horizon, its rays painting the morning sky blue and giving shape to the clouds below. It was all the more beautiful, since the spot he was standing could be called the highest point in the entirety of Alvox. Even the great mountains of the North weren''t able to reach this height.


    How the Empress was able to create the ck Tower, Two Tales had no idea. Though everyone who saw the Tower with their own eyes had their own theories and spections regarding it. In the past, Two Tales was also one of those people, excitedly fantasizing about the miracles of the Empress.


    But... unfortunately, when one witnessed a miracle once too many times, they grew numb to it. Only if the Empress were to one day dere that the whole universe had fallen into her control, Two Tales would be startled ever-so-slightly.


    ''Any other miracle... well, those were just everyday events,'' he thought with amusement.


    ''Jokes aside, where has she disappeared off to?'' he thought ponderingly.


    As far as Two Tales knew, if one didn''t count the Velvet Procession, the times the Empress left the ck Tower for something personally could almost be counted on one''s fingers.


    ''Her leaving today is most likely a monumental moment in history...''


    But Two Tales wasn''t worried. Her leaving didn''t mean anything too dangerous. Probably just something she didn''t expect when she was first building the tower. Two Tales knew that the Empress built this tower with the intention to never leave, so she definitely would''ve thought of what to do when something dangerous ured. After all, she herself bragged about its versatility all the time.


    ''And I did it not because I amzy, but because I want a ce where I can do everything I need from. Well, also because it''s a bit of a pain to get out sometimes,'' she would say.


    "Well, after this, her tower will be one step closer to omnipotence," Two Tales muttered. Since she had to leave her tower for a problem today, then that meant she going toter think about how she might solve the problem without leaving.


    As he was thinking of such random things, a grandly dressed woman materialized in front of him. There was no need for a portal or anything else, The Empress simply appeared where she pleased.


    "Good morning, your highness," Two Tales greeted dutifully.


    The Empress just half-smiled in response and waved her hands. She then walked towards an armchair and began to sip a drink with one of her countless hands, her golden eyes shimmering in the dimness of early morning. Two Tales didn''t take the Empress'' behavior to heart, as greetings had lost meaning for the two of them after all these years.


    "It is currently thest month of Fall of the year 1478, almost two years since you''vest fallen to slumber," Two Tales recounted and began to report to the Empress of the more important events that happened throughout the years.


    Although the Empress was a diety, it didn''t mean she was omnipotent or omniscient. Otherwise, it wouldn''t be necessary for the Worlds and the Authorities to exist.


    Two Tales recited the general state of the four countries, the level of technology and magic, the state of the poption in the countries, the ongoing war of the South and the conditions of the Worlds of Magic.


    The Empress expressionlessly listened to these news, asionally asking for more rification and information.


    "The biggest events that happened these past years are all tied to the Religion of Ascendants. Too many organizations are using its face and ideals as a cover for their ambitions," Two Tales said and the Empress chuckled slightly.


    "The one created by my supposed child, right? I still find it humorous when I think about it."


    "Smalltime criminal groups, underground or unorthodox organizations, and even some people tied to the countries are hiding behind the Religion''s face..."


    "It''ll die out pretty soon, I''m sure," the Empress shrugged. She seemed more impressed with the fact that the Religion was able to stay afloat with all these negative influences attached to it.


    "In any case, the Otherworlders have also used the religion''s face to move against us," Two Tales recounted solemnly.


    The Empress'' shimmering eyes stopped for a second, and she showed a rare almost expectant smile. Unfortunately, Two Tales could not show the same excitement as her.


    Alvox, on the whole, was a rtively new fish on the big waters. They had a great ally with the Ruler of Earth, so none dared to mess with them... but the mysterious being suddenly disappeared about two and a half centuries ago. This meant that Alvox was now left to fend for itself


    "I suppose those conquerors and warlords of the other civilizations have waited enough Hmm Do you know who they were, exactly?" The Empress asked.


    "Unfortunately, no. But their technology was very advanced. From what Kal described, they have used a spaceship to escape with their members," Two Tales exined.


    "Hmm, a technology based civilization is a bit troubling but the deities of the magical civilizations aren''t so easy to deal with either"


    Two Tales tried to reply, but decided not to after seeing the Empress'' mouth curling into a slight smile, her eyes bing unfocused.


    "There''s not much time left at all Perhaps ten years? No They should take at least 20 years or more. That''s enough time to prepare the citizens... but that''s a pain in and of itself. And it''s not like its guaranteed to work in the first ce..." the Empress murmured under her breath and chuckled quietly.


    "Yes, that should work. Though a bit extreme, but would be very interesting to see it unfold. And besides, any of it wouldn''t really matter in the end, so it''s eptable. Even if it all somehow fails horrendously, I can try again from scratch after all"


    "Oh, how I wish this could be solved through brute force but s, I''m not so omnipotent. Yet. No I shall never be We''ve been through this Don''t you remember what happened to you when you tried to be omniscient? The best you can try for is to be nigh-omnipotent, or nigh-omniscient "


    "But still, having to wait for these indecisive cowards to finally make the decision to attack you is such a chore What a pain Hmm? This feels rather nostalgic, doesn''t it?" she said with an eerie smile.


    "Though... I wonder what would happen if I just let everything y out by itself? The citizens would surely not just silently let the otherworlders y them, right? Or will they still somehow manage topete with each other like always? Heh," The Empress chuckled again.


    Two Tales only stood silently in the background, listening to the Empress mutter about random topics, supposedly formting a n.


    "In any case, the countries should at least be encouraged to unite. Perhaps I shall officially dere it the next time I appear in public" the Empress'' eyes regained focus, and she seemed to have decided on her actions.


    Hearing of the unification of the countries, Two Tales could not help but shiver slightly. An inescapable tide of chaos was about to wash over the Empire.


    "What do you require from us?" Two Tales asked, speaking on behalf of the Authorities.


    "Nothing yet. I''ll need to think a bit more about this whole matter," the Empress replied smilingly.


    His duty finished, Two Tales rxed slightly. It wasn''t his job to worry about the future, his job was to follow orders. As the Empress casually mentioned, even if all else fails, the Empress would survive to tell the tale, that much he was sure of.


    "If you don''t mind me asking, why have you left the Tower?" he asked, feeling chatty, as the Empress seemed to be in a rare good mood.


    "Oh, I felt someone peeking into my past. Turned out it was a set of coincidences that involved that spirit from Earth. Well, now he goes by Evin Anyway, Four tried into escape to Evin''s mind, by tainting his soul and baiting him into jumping into her World. Obviously, Twelve stopped everything before anything happened, but decided to leave Evin inside Four''s World to go through the wed trial, thinking that I was interested in him," the Empressughed.


    "In any case, somehow, the first corrupted soul he encountered tried to merge with him through an exchange of memories after failing to absorb him. Moreover, the soul just happened to be someone that met me personally. When Evin''s soul reached a point in the woman''s life when she met me, I could feel someone ncing at my past through some weird, abnormal way. Curiously, I went to check it out and found out about the whole matter," the Empress finished narrating, amusement apparent on her face.


    After listening to the story finish, Two Tales couldn''t help but frown.


    "I haven''t told you this before, since I thought it unnecessary, but we were able to discover the Otherworlders thanks to Evin," he said and narrated the whole story.


    Hearing the ount, the Empress fell into thought.


    "That''s a bit... too coincidental, isn''t it?" she muttered out loud and asked: "What do you think of him?"


    "Nothing too special, but there is a certain charm to him. As far as I know, most of the older Authorities end up liking him after they converse with him. As for his powers, he''s on the more powerful side in his own league. He owns Dark World Sprites, a skinshifter and a connection with the Cosmics. If I also consider the fact that he lived through the life of that woman in Four''s World, his chances of assimting the Beast Lord he met should also be high. In conclusion, it would be hard for him to not seed in the long term," Two Tales narrated. Then, thinking about how Evin''s first appearance inside his World made such huge waves, he couldn''t help but notice something wrong.


    "Hmm... What are the countries doing about the Otherworlders?" The Empress asked after thinking for a bit.


    "For the time being, they''re investigating their origins. The Otherworlders seem to have built many secret bases when they were staying here, so the countries are trying to reverse engineer the unknown technology inside them," Two Tales said.


    "Hmm If I tell the countries to unite so suddenly, they''ll definitely do at least one irrational thing... Let''s see what they do for the time being. You can tell the other Authorities to take this matter seriously..." the Empress made a pondering expression, her hand touching her chin... "As for the spirit... let''s see where he gets to," she said with a smile.


    "Do you wish for me to help him?" Two Tales asked.


    "No-no-no. That''s over-forcing it. We have to maintain some neutrality here, at least on the surface. We''ll just watch the show from the sidelines... don''t worry about it," she said and the eerie smile reappeared on her face.

 Chapter 173: Deminte

    Chapter 173: Deminte


    Arza sat on the floor of a simple two-story building in one of the more obscure corners of the mage part of the Tribe Grounds.


    The man who brought him had told him to wait for Lady Deminte for one day in this room, and that she was going to meet him the day after.


    Arza asked about what was going to happen with his sses, and the man just told him not to worry about it, as he wasn''t going to be attending them anymore.


    He wondered how it was possible for some people to bend the rules this much, while if another had done a simr thing, they would be punished by them. Karan told him that its'' just how society works and he didn''t need to worry about it, but Arza just couldn''t get over the fact, even now.


    Well, Karan told him many things, like how he shouldn''t trust him that much since not everything he said would be a correct. He also felt like Evin had said something simr as well, but he just couldn''t remember when. Evin said a lot of things, after all. He was pretty sure that Ssatsko also said something simr at some point.


    ''Well, why bother speaking, then,'' Arza clearly remembered retorting in such a way, which received a slightly shocked expression from Evin and Ssatsko. Arza didn''t know why they were so shocked. But now that he was surrounded by kids and adults with lots of varying thoughts and ideals, he kind of understood the two''s words.


    But it wasn''t like he was unhappy with the situation, no. Arza was d that Evin gave him this chance to stay away from the crowd. At first, he was very content with the kids surrounding and flocking around him, but as he spent more and more time with them, he was starting to realize how boring and childish most of them were. He would much rather spend his time with Evin, listening to him drone off about random things.


    Arza felt a bit bad, since he wasparing literal children to someone who had lived an entire life at some point, but it was how he felt in the deepest parts of his heart.


    ''If you really want something, but you know that taking that thing will result in someone else being unhappy well, I''d certainly try my best to take the damn thing anyway,'' his father''s advice entered his ears. Arza felt that Evin said something simr at some point as well.


    ''But my wish is to be strong enough to protect my family and then beat up all the people that always take you away from me,'' he thought, thinking about the time when he chanced upon his mother burying her head his father''s back, telling him toe back safely with tears in her eyes.


    [Damn, who does that woman think she is? Keeping us in here without even bothering to check up on us] Karan''s voice echoed in Arza''s head.


    [Well, let''s just enjoy the peace while we can. I know you feel very spent when we''re surrounded by children,] Arza tried to give the man some optimism.


    As the two were conversing like this silently, the door to his room opened and a chill went up his back.


    An elderly woman in light blue clothing was eyeing him from the door with a condescendingly icy gaze. But from closer look, Arza really couldn''t call her a proper olddy. Aside from her graying hair and the asional wrinkles on her forehead, she looked much better than most of the forty-year-olds Arza saw back on Smallwall vige.


    "Lady Deminte," Arza greeted. His father told him that greetings rarely went wrong.


    "Arza, right? Do you have ast name?"


    "No."


    "Are your parents bothmoners? Tell me about your situation a bit," Deminte said imposingly.


    "My father''s a mage that graduated from Arcvallen, while my mother is amoner from my father''s hometown. We still live there. Smallwall town."


    ''Why is this so important?'' Arza thought annoyedly. Every Northern Child he met would drone off about their family and Tribe, like nothing else existed in the World.


    "Hmm Tell me, how long have you been friends with that boy?" she asked idly.


    "Since the days I became conscious," Arza answered truthfully.


    "Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I don''t think staying with him will be anything good for your growth," she said off-handedly.


    "What do you mean?" Arza tone couldn''t help but be aggressive.


    "His trickery, his variety of methods, his heterogeneousness, his conduct all of them are detrimental for you, who''s much more suited for the True Path," Deminte said.


    "The what?"


    [Sounds like a scam,] Karanmented.


    "The True Path. The path that all mages were fated to walk. Don''t look at me like that. It''s nothing like what you''re expecting. In fact, I think you''re going to like it very much," Deminte smiled ambiguously.


    Arza looked at her with some wariness. The way she smiled exactly the same when Evin would try to scam him into something.


    "What do you want from me?" Arza asked, his mind unusually sharp.


    "See? The ck-haired boy''s ruined you. His wary attitude rubbed off on you, so whatever I say, you will question it. Even if I told you that I have absolutely no wish to recruit you under my wings and that I just want to see where you end up with the proper training, you wouldn''t believe me. Well, perhaps you would if you''ve never met the boy, that is," Deminte smiled coldly.


    "Why do you have to bring him into this all the time?" Arza asked.


    "You really think I don''t see his n? You really think I couldn''t notice his gaze piercing through the illusive veil and a smirk appearing on his face? It was so disturbingly familiar, I thought Nasst had shapeshifted into the boy. Such childish ideas Don''t forget, child, I''m a super-imposer," Deminte scoffed.


    Arza was a bit shocked, but he expected such an oue. In fact, he nned to tell the truth to Deminte.


    "I didn''t mean that But if you want to talk about the topicWell, Evin told me to have us write a contract that ensures my safety and my freedom. Obviously, we can talk about what I can do for you to pay you back for your training," Arza said suddenly.


    Deminte just scoffed again and handed Arza a piece of paper, which Arza could tell, was filled to the brim with energy from the World of Water.


    "I, Deminte Olfanrel, swear upon the Livendia Threetail''s Contract that I am willing to impart the knowledge (ones that I am allowed to) upon Arza of Smallwall Town I do not require any form of repayment from the other party," Arza read with some shock.


    The supposed Contract then included a bunch of lines that promised Arza and his family''s safety and some details about the knowledge she held. The only request she had from Arza was to give his best when training the methods she imparted upon her, while also keeping it a secret.


    "Do you believe me now, or will you have someone check the Contract''s legitimacy?" Deminte asked with a snort.


    "Why are you doing this?" Arza couldn''t help but ask.


    Deminte shrugged in response.


    "It''s hard to watch you waste your talent like that. Such potential for the True Path, but you''d rather jump into the muddy water and taint yourself Well, if you want another reason, well, I need to have some of my kin understand a lesson," she smiled coldly.


    ''What does that mean?'' Arza thought, feeling like he stumbled upon something important.


    "Don''t think too much about it. What''s more important is your decision. Will you ept my tutge?" Deminte asked and her eyes seemed to be an edge sharperpared to before.


    Arza gulped almost instinctively, his eyes wavering under Deminte''s cold re. His heartbeat quickened and his hands started sweating. Something started clumping up in his chest, like he was about to suffocate.


    "I-I''ll do it!" he suddenly shouted avidly.


    Deminte only smiled lightly at Arza''s zealous shout.

 Chapter 174: The True Path

    Chapter 174: The True Path


    Arza slouched inside a hot tub filled with bright pink liquid, with Deminte speaking in the background about the same topic over and over again.


    "Tsk, that boy almost ruined youpletely. So much useless information flooding your brain, confusing and distracting you from your True Path," Deminte''s voice entered Arza''s head.


    Arza didn''t bother retorting like he did previously, and silently sat in the tub, trying to absorb its powers into his body.


    "Do you know why Nasst''s type always goes for sneak attacks and a cacophony of other unsavory methods? It''s because the path they take is too heterogeneous. Illusions, portals, raw mana, gestures he knows all these random things and they''re not even his strongest World," Deminte went on.


    Ever since he was taken to Deminte''s dwelling, which happened to be a simple two story building in the mage-area, he has been receiving a thorough lecture about the True Path of a mage and the dangers of heterogeneousness.


    "And I can see him imparting all that side knowledge to that boy you love and respect so much. Thinking that he''s going to be stronger and better thanks to it Really, I felt a bit bad when he chose Nasst over me, but how joyful I was when I learned what kind of approach he had towards learning magic. Such variety, such open-mindedness, such adaptability. All of it absolutely useless in the face of the True Path," Deminte said.


    Arza''s head was bing a bit more muddle-headed, as the heat from the water seeped into his brain.


    "No. In the end that boy will just have a thousand methods to deal with one problem. While, we, the followers of the True Path, shall only have a single method to deal with a thousand problems," Deminte said reverently.


    Arza heard this speech a dozen times at this point, and frankly he was getting tired of it. But the more he listened, the more it sounded usible to him. Of course, no one wanted to learn countless different methods to deal with the problems that appeared on their path. If Arza could learn one thing and that helped him with any situation that came to him How convenient would that be?


    "You may think this philosophy stupid, as there are 12 Magical Worlds in Alvox. It would be a shame if one didn''t use them all, or at least be familiar with them all. But I ask you this? What''s the point of it all. The World of Fire, the World of Thoughts, the World of Space and the World of Emotions I can deal with all of them, by only relying on my Ice. It''s because the Ice is truth for me. It can do anything I wish from it. Dispelling illusions, quenching fire, distorting portals, clearing my mind. Whatever I need my Ice to do, it performs without fail."


    A sudden sting from his muscles jolted the drowsy Arza awake and he hurriedly began processing what the woman just said.


    "There is no limit to your willpower. If you need to deal with the elements, you can will your body to be heatproof, windproof, and even cold proof. You can even will your skin to be mystical enough to resist the deadly cuts of portals," Deminte continued.


    Arza''s eyes excitedly imagined a sight of his body casually swatting away lighting and fire like they were made of paper. All thanks to his absolute body.


    "At the top of this World, what matters most is willpower. There, logic alone doesn''t prevail. Instead, it bes a certain kind of willpower. For example, let''s say top-tier lesser-imposer X fights another top-tier lesser-imposer Y. To conclude the battle swiftly, they simply agree to st at each other their most powerful spells. This is an extremely simple example, mind you."


    "Y is known for his powerful Fire attacks and is a willpower driven mage, while X is known for his Water and is a logic driven mage. X will perform extremely well in this matchup, as he knows and believes that Y''s worst enemy is Water magic. This knowledge, confidence and belief will act as a boost to his willpower, giving him a much better edge over the other. This is what makes logic driven mages strong, their belief in the nature of things strengthening their spells to an almost impossible degree," Deminte said.


    Arza imagined such a scenario and the oue he came to ended up ovepping with what the elder said. Water beats Fire. Pretty simple.


    "But, this can also be an obstacle. What would X do if he were to fight another mage, one who is strong against water, like a user of steel, or thunder? At that point, X will have a hard time, since their belief is telling them that water is weak in these situations. On the other hand, mages who rely solely on their willpower would not have these problems," Deminte finished exining and let Arza process the information a bit.


    ''At this point she''s just speaking whatever that''sing into her mind,'' Arza thought. He really didn''t like how Deminte spoke to him sometimes, like she was talking to a child. But this was what he had agreed to, so he couldn''t just go back on his word.


    ''Alright Trying many things bad, focusing on one thing good. One solution to every problem. Willpower good, logic bad,'' He chanted inside his head.


    After Arza agreed to train under Deminte, she exined that he needed to forget about all the things that Evin taught him, and condition his mind for the True Path.


    Arza asked Deminte what this True Path was, but she only exined that he had to understand it himself.


    Currently, Arza felt that the True Path was just pushing one World to the limits. Like she said herself, to have one solution for every problem. Arza really did like this concept. Deminte was right when she said that Arza would like it even though she introduced it in an extremely scam-like way.


    He voiced this opinion and received a vague smile in response. She didn''t tell him it was right, or if it was wrong. Arza was a bit confused, but he didn''t mind it too much. He''d been with Evin for too long to mind such mysteries.


    Instead, he opted to focus on the training and the absorption of the bright pink substance in the bath.


    Arza was a bit regretful at first,ing to this crazy woman and having to listen to her drone on and on about the same topic but she gave him a free boost to his mana-core so he wasn''t that dissatisfied.


    She also promised to give him a simr martial art scroll simr to Evin''s, one that was more suited for him.


    From the contents of her speech, she wasn''t going to teach Arza a lot of different things, aside from of course, the True Path and the World of Life, but she expressed her sincere desire to groom him into his full potential.


    ...

 Chapter 175: Worrywart

    Chapter 175: Worrywart


    Rith sat on Evin''s bed, mulling over whether she should check up on Evin, or not.


    ''It usually takes him only three or four hours to be finished with his studies... whatever they may be'' she thought, trying to wipe away the worry in her head.


    ''But for some reason, he''s been gone for almost six hours at this point'' Rith knew how much Evin loved his break time. He preached about it almost every day. Even though he ended up practicing his gestures during most of his breaks afterining about having nothing to do. Obviously he wouldn''t do it silently. He wouldin about how sad life is when you have free time, but you can only use it to be productive, since everything else is boring as shit.


    And when Rith retorted to him that he should just go to sses if he''s bored, the boy would drone off about it being extra shit, or how sad it is when you have a free day, but choose to spend it with six-year-old children.


    Even thinking about it all made Rith irritated. And moreover, she didn''t even have the time to meet another male cat or Cosmic, so she was extra-irritated. Gritting her teeth, she forced herself to calm down.


    ''Someone like Evin would definitely not spend more than four hours studying. He would probably do it if Nasst forced him to, but I feel like he should at least inform me in that case,'' she thought unconfidently.


    She knew that Evin wouldn''t think so much about this situation like she was doing. As far as she knew, there were very few things that surprised or affected Evin. But sadly, Rith wasn''t like Evin.


    But she didn''t want to go and check it out herself, as it was very taboo to intrude upon a ss between a master and their student. Especially if it was a one on one. Evin wouldn''t mind at all, but Rith couldn''t say the same for Nasst. And most likely, Evin would probably use it to jab at Rith for the following week or so, calling her a worrywart or something along those lines...


    "You know what? I''ll just go and check them out. See what they''re doing. If it turns out that they were just training something time consuming, I''ll just apologize to Nasst and ignore the ensuing jabs from Evin," Rith said suddenly and jumped onto the floor.


    With a confident gait, she strode downstairs and reached the Test room''s door. But nearing the door, she silenced her steps and tried to listen to what was going on inside with her perked up ears. She had to suppress her urge to open up a small portal to see what was going inside, but thinking of Nasst''s golden horn, she contained herself. At that point, she would definitely look like she was trying to peek at the two''s secrets.


    ''That sounds a bit wrong Hmm'' Rith smirked, awfully amused for some reason.


    "Come in," Nasst''s voice came from inside the door, making Rith jump from the floor slightly.


    ''Shit, I want to die. I really want to die,'' she hid her face behind her paws in embarrassment, barely managing to stop herself from rolling on the ground.


    A secondter, she forced her face to show a business smile and cleared her voice almost inaudibly.


    Pushing the door open, she saw Nasst sitting in a lotus position on his armchair, his eyes staring at arge, dark blue blob inside the room, no sign of Evin inside the room.


    "?" Rith confusedly looked at the state of the room, trying to understand what had happened.


    "Where''s Evin?" she finally managed to ask.


    Nasst looked at her briefly, before pointing his chin at the blue blob inside the room.


    "He''s in there? Uhh, could you tell me what had happened?" Rith still couldn''t understand what was going on. At least Evin seemed to be safe for the time being, since Nasst was rtively calm.


    "Hmm I''m not so sure myself," Nasst finally said and got into a morefortable position.


    Rith stood there silently, urging the man to continue.


    "I was talking to him about Deconstructing and Brute-forcing spells, right? And I just told him that Time energy can work as a method of Spellbreaking, but only some mages are able to use the energy," Nasst continued.


    Rith nodded slowly. In her opinion, it was time for Evin to properly learn about Spellbreaking as well. She didn''t know what kind of work Evin was going to perform for Nasst, but from the looks of it, it surely wasn''t a desk job.


    "And he entered the World of Time, but I noticed one thing weird about it all. I''m notpletely sure of it, but he took on apletely Dark-blue hue for a split second and then just stopped moving altogether."


    "With some confusion, I went in a bit closer to check up on him, but I was just more convinced that he was frozen in time. He almost looked like how other people''s silhouettes look like in the World of Thoughts. The only thing different about him was that he obviously didn''t look like one, and a dark-blue circle had appeared around his eyes," Nasst spoke and paused a bit.


    Rith didn''t urge him to continue, but she sure wished he hurried.


    "No more than a minute had passed and I suddenly feel a portal appearing behind me. Instinctively, I throw one of my more lethal Storm spells, but the next thing I know, my attack had just disappeared into nothingness. A serious attack from a super-imposer, broken down in a matter of milliseconds It was a great blow to my pride, I''ll tell you that. In any case, I tried to run away through a portal, but a thick fog of Time energy pervading every corner of the room prevented me from constructing any kind of spell," Nasst said, a wry smile on his face.


    "As I nced towards the portal, expecting some big fucking monster to appear but instead, a little girl, maybe only 13 or 14, appeared in front of me, wearing some clothing that I''ve never seen before," Nasst paused again.


    ''Is it?'' Rith wondered.


    "Then, with her glowing blue eyes, she looked at me imposingly and uttered: ''Don''t bother''. Afterwards, she created that barrier over there with Evin inside it. It''s been like this for about six hours now," Nasst finished.


    "That must be Lady Twelve Jokes, no?" Rith exined.


    Teenage girl, dark-blue eyes, wearing weird clothing it was obviously the Authority of Time. All the other details matched as well. Evin turned weird after going into the World of Time, and the method of attack she used was Time energy.


    "I think so as well but I''ve never thought that it would be a teenage girl. I''ve always imagined the Authority of Time to be some sort of wise old man, with his beard reaching the floors and whatnot," Nasst replied with a shrug.


    ''I guess most people never see the Authorities that often, huh? Even a super-imposer like Nasst doesn''t know about Twelve Jokes,'' Rith thought with some pride.


    ''Wait.''


    "Do you think Evin will be fine?" Rith asked, for some reason wondering what her tone of voice should be.


    "I''m not entirely sure, unfortunately... but I have a feeling he''s alright."


    It seemed like a good enough answer for Rith, since she also felt the same way. She was at first scared and overwhelmed by the Authorities'' presence back at Kena''s city, but after seeing Evin interact with them in an almost abnormally normal way, most of her anxiety towards them vanished. She was sure that Twelve Jokes came here with good intents. She didn''t know why, but she just felt like it. Perhaps the Authorities'' fame helped a lot with this feeling of hers.


    ''Perhaps an ident urred to Evin and now she''s trying to fix it,'' Rith thought and was reminded of the conversation she had with Evin. The one where Evin mention how he wanted to go search for St.


    ''Damn and ident for an Authority really would be a disaster for Evin,'' she couldn''t help but think withment.

 Chapter 176: Changes inside the shadow

    Chapter 176: Changes inside the shadow


    Two more hours passed as Rith and Nasst waited for Evin toe out of the barrier. Both didn''t know how long it was going take, so eventually they started having some small-talk as they waited.


    "By the way, what kind of things will you be teaching Evin afterwards?" Rith asked suddenly.


    "Hmm, after he got the hang of Spellbreaking, I was about to teach him how to have it on his body passively. After that, the Somaturgy expert shoulde and keep him busy. Aside from that, nothing much. The limit of what I can teach ends at that point after all aside from the stuff that normal kids learn, of course But for that, I''m nning to just throw some books about it to him. I suppose he''ll just wait for the Horn Ceremony after that, absorbing Core Shards in his spare time," Nasst said, cocking his head sideways.


    "Oh, then you don''t mind if I teach him the World of Space, right?" Rith asked.


    "Oh, I have no problems with that. I was just wondering how I should keep him busy How long do you think you will teach him?" Nasst asked.


    "Well, that mostly depends on Evin himself and his talents. I can only guess after I''ve seen how he does," Rith answered before continuing: "But, if he isn''t too terrible at it, it should take about three months..."


    ''And after that, it was goodbye,'' Rith thought with a sigh. It was awfully enjoyable being with Evin and it was an overall fun ride, but Rith had her own life to lead. She couldn''t continue being Evin''s pet cat all the time. Her boring, old, adult life was waiting for her.


    ''Who knows? Maybe I''ll find another mad 300-year-old spirit inhibiting the body of a child. Maybe he''ll also be the same funpany that Evin was'' she sighed again.


    ''But at that point, my responsibilities should increase from hunting for young talents to actually maintaining contact with important business partners'' she thought, reminded of the bright white color of her stars.


    ''Guess at that point, I should probably keep my distance from Evin. I feel like I be more and more dumb with every minute I spend with him,'' Rith pondered.


    But obviously, that didn''t mean she was going to shove Evin away from her life. Experience told her that such moves rarely had the intended effect.


    Nasst also seemed to be thinking about something of his own, as he seemingly made a decision on something.


    "After he finishes with the World of Space, he''ll have almost half a year of doing nothing Perhaps I should make him start working a bit earlier? He''ll work for me for 4 months,e back for the Horn Ceremony, and then get back to working afterwards," Nasst murmured.


    "Is there some emergency going on? I feel like everyone''s a bit on edgetely," Rith asked, thinking of the busy atmosphere with the rest of the Cosmics.


    "Well even if I knew, I''m probably not allowed to talk about it to you," Nasstughed.


    "Oh, of course," Rith said, once again shocked by her increasing stupidity.


    ''Damn you,'' she cursed Evin in her head.


    But a sudden change forced both of them to look at the barrier.


    A small hole appeared on the barrier and a girl''s voice came from inside.


    "Pleasee inside, Rith," it said.


    Rith looked at the hole suspiciously before looking at Nasst, not really sure of what she was trying to find in the old man. Nasst, obviously, simply shrugged and gestured his head towards the hole.


    ''Well, it''s a request from an Authority, I don''t think I''ll be able to refuse anyway,'' Rith decided and jumped into the hole, which closed in behind her.


    Inside, she noticed that everything outside was visible to her eyes, making her guess that the barrier worked simrly to a one-way window.


    Twelve Jokes was sitting next to Evin, beckoning Rith with her hands. Rith warily walked close to the Authority.


    "If you''re wondering about Evin, don''t worry about it. At this pace, he will wake up in an hour or so," Twelve Jokes calmly reassured and continued: "I wanted to ask you to get inside his shadow and exin that everything will be fine in an hour or so. It''s a bit distracting to see it so distressed all the time."


    Rith''s eyes fell on Evin''s shadow and sure enough, she could see a thick wavy substance spreading all over the floor, but not quite daring to engulf Twelve Jokes inside it.


    Rith didn''t bother questioning the Authority, and just warily touched Evin''s shadow with her paws. And with a plop, she appeared inside Evin''s shadow without even realizing how.


    But she didn''t have enough time to worry about those things, as she noticed the great changes that were happening inside the shadow.


    The cute little World Sprites that were only about Rith''s height had all be much taller, some of them even bing twice as tall as before, and from what Rith could guess, they were still growing, groaning in pain all the while.


    They now had proper faces, instead of their featureless heads; their limbs were much more detailed and realistic, which made them look like actual young children... except of course, they werepletely coal-ck. But one thing that really stood out to Rith was that there were a mix of girls and boys.


    She really didn''t know why this part was so important to her, but she supposed that she expected everyone to be a girl.


    Ayn, Vyn and Lyn were also experiencing the same change inside the shadow. Their forms looked more beautiful, and Rith could see much moreplex emotions being depicted on their usually simple faces.


    But a loud bark-like snarl came from all around her, forcing her to look at the ginormous fox-head,almost as big as the head of a shark, floating in the sky and constantly spewing out a ck fog-like substance from her neck.


    Rith knew that Enri floated around as a fox-head, with a thin trail of smoke following behind her. But the amount she was seeing now was obviously muchrger than what she was used to. And from what she could see, the huge amount of fog was also trying to gather into a proper body.


    [Rith, you''re here!] Runa''s telepathic voice sounded inside her head and Rith saw the blob of metal slowly sliding towards her.


    [Runa, what''s happening here?] Rith asked, as she let the skinshifter wrap around her body and turned into an armor of some sorts.


    [I-I don''t know! Everyone just suddenly started bing bigger and bigger! Where''s mother? I-I want to see mother!] the skinshifter''s panicked voice uttered.


    [He''s fine, the Authority said he''lle back in an hour. We just have to wait until then, alright?] Rith reassured Runa in the most calming voice she could manage. She knew that Runa was still a child, so suddenly having everyone around her transforming without warning was probably a bit too much.


    [It''s alright, it''s alright,] Rith just continued to tell the child, even though she herself was quite shocked. But she couldn''t let herself panic alongside her, as she felt like this was her responsibility as an adult.


    She then looked at Enri and the other World Sprites, trying to guess at what was happening. Thankfully, it didn''t seem to be anything bad for them, as Rith''s natural sense were telling her that the everyone''s existence was bing sharper and sharper, with Enri being the biggest example.

 Chapter 177: A different Evin

    Chapter 177: A different Evin


    There was always this feeling inside Rith, that the World Sprites weren''tpletely real. Probably a horrible feeling to have on her part, but that was what her instincts always told her. That World Sprites weren''t actually alive, that they weren''t a proper part of life, like they werecking something crucial. Even Enri had that feel to her sometimes.


    Obviously, her mind wosiuld say otherwise: ''What do you mean they''re not real? They''re right there! Living! Would you deny a newborn''s existence just because they didn''t act like adults?''


    Such thoughts would counter what her instincts were telling her.


    But today, Rith''s brains and instincts were finally in agreement on what the World Sprites were. The World Sprites inside Evin''s shadow were proper living beings from now on.


    ''What the fuck am I thinking about?'' Rith shook her head.


    [Runa, do you know what happened to Evin?] she asked, noticing that the skinshifter had calmed down slightly.


    [I don''t know eight hours ago, mother turnedpletely still. Even his stray thoughts disappeared from inside the shadow. Usually, we''re able to hear his thoughts in our heads, see?] Runa exined in a small voice, sniffling all the while. Rith didn''t know how one could sniffle through telepathy, but that was probably not so important now.


    [Enri said that even though his body was okay, something really crucial from him was missing and we were wondering what to do until that really strong girl came and told us that it was going to be okay]


    [She came inside here?] Rith asked curiously.


    [No... she seemed to know when we looked at her. She just said it to the shadow,] Runa exined.


    [Then what''s happening to everyone around us?]


    [I-I don''t know It just started happening after an hour or so. Everyone just started groaning in pain, the only thoughts they emitted were ''Sharp'', or ''Strong''. Even Enri turned like that eventually. I looked at the strong girl outside, and she just told me it was going to be okay But I was really, really scared,] Runa started sniffling again.


    [There, there I''m sorry for noting sooner,] Rith said, trying to piece together what happened just now.


    ''It''s mostly the same as what Nasst said There''s really not much I can do here, except wait and hope that he''s alright And besides, the Authority of Time promised his safety, so I should trust her a bit more,'' Rith reassured herself.


    She heard many wonderful stories about the World of Time. Most of them were obviously exaggerations and hyperbole, but Rith was fairly confident that the World could achieve some miraculous things at the right hands. And who was a better person for that, if not the Authority of Time?


    ''She can probably turn time for Evin and make it so that he''s okay, even if he turns out to be not so okay,'' Rith felt like she was deluding herself, but there really wasn''t much she could do here, except simply be there for Runa.


    Being an adult was trying your best to deal with the shit that was thrown at you, but more often than not, you would be silently enduring them until you find a solution. And more often than not, the solution would be inactivity. Not all problems could be solved, after all. Trying to solve all of them would be like bashing one''s head against a wall, hoping that the humor inside it would die out.


    Rith couldn''t help but sigh silently as she watched the World Sprites and the fox-head groveling about painfully. Even though they looked to be in pain, the problem they were facing was simply too foreign to Rith. She couldn''t help them.


    But, she <em>could</em> be there for them although it was painfully meaningless half the time. Well, at least this time, she was here to calm Runa down, so she wasn''t too disheartened.


    An hour and a half passed, with Rith and Runa spending some time together, eventually getting used to the changes that were happening around them. The World Sprites and Enri stopped groaning and growling at some point, but they were still irresponsive. But since their expressions were peaceful, Rith didn''t feel so worried anymore.


    [I wonder when mother''s going toe back? It''s been more than an hour, right?] Runa asked worriedly. But the panic in her voice from before was gone, as she was much calmer now.


    [Hmm, Lady Twelve Jokes only said maybe an hour. She could''ve been wrong. Maybe we should go out and ask her?] suggested Rith, looking at the teenage girl, silently standing guard next to Evin from inside the shadows.


    [Mmm No. She''s very scary,] Runa didn''t seem so excited about facing the Authority.


    [Oh, it seems like something''s happening,] Rith said, as she tried to understand the faint ripple that her body was feeling.


    [I think mother''se back!] Runa said happily and started directing her thoughts towards Evin.


    [Mother!]


    [You''re back!]


    Stray thoughts echoed inside Evin''s shadow. Rith looked around herself expectantly, and sure enough, the boy briefly materialized in front of her, before falling down to the ground. A sigh of relief came out of her maw, and she looked at the boy properly once more.


    She could notice that he was also holding a new spear in his hands, one that was very simr to his favorite one, but made of a different material. Also its de was glowing bright-blue, with another dark-blue tube glowing at the handle.


    One more thing she noticed was that there was a simple, almost featureless mask hanging from his side, one that gave her an awfully unnerving feeling. Now that she thought about it, the spear had an uncanny feeling to it as well.


    ''He also looks different,'' Rith couldn''t help but think.


    Runa, on the other hand, didn''t mind any of these details and skidded towards Evin after dislodging herself from Rith''s body.


    "Hey, how have you been?" Evin said with an unusually smooth voice.


    [Mother! Mother!] Runa''s excited telepathic shouts reverberated through the surroundings, making Rith smile unconsciously.


    "Hey, what did I tell you to call me? Big brother. That''s right, say it again," Evin replied and smiled in a very unusual way. He didn''t frown and look mildly irritated like he usually did when either Runa or Enri called him ''mother'', instead he looked weirdly regretful and nostalgic.


    ''What happened to him?'' Rith couldn''t help but wonder.


    Now that she noticed this, Rith couldn''t help but see the small and inconsequential new details that appeared on his behavior. First, his head seemed much livelierpared to before, with the way he tilted it slightly when he spoke and nodded slightly more often than before. He alsoughed a bit strangely, in an almost charming way.


    Obviously, he wasn''t aplete different person. He was just very slightly different. Rith could see these changes because it was her job to notice Evin''s bodynguage and subconscious movements. And all her training about a humanoid''s bodynguage told her one thing.


    ''Is he more feminine now? What''s up with that? What happened when he was out?''


    Questions popped up inside her head one after another.


    She never felt that Evin was in danger, except for a bit of worry, so she didn''t act like Runa. He was gone for only eight hours or so, after all. She was much more interested in the changed that happened to Evin. She walked towards him with some wariness.


    "How long have I been out? Uhh, what''s happening to the World Sprites, and Enri?"Evin asked, looking around curiously. But right after he voiced it, understanding seemed to sh past his eyes and he smiled expectantly.


    Rith could see that a blue line appeared around his pupils, etched into the white of his eyes.


    "We''re not sure. Runa said that they became like that after an hour or so uhh, after you''ve stopped moving," Rith exined.


    "Ah, I see, then it should be alright. They''ll wake up eventually," Evin answered.


    "More importantly, what happened to you?"


    Evin scratched his head and smiled ambiguously.


    "Well, I can''t really go into details, but I went through a trial to learn Soul magic," he said unsurely.


    "A what magic?"


    "It''s a form of magic you can perform using your soul. Supposedly, it was pretty popr before the Worlds became a thing. But, please don''t tell it to Nasst, or anyone else. I''m only telling you because I trust you. I''m not sure how people will react when they see it, yet," Evin said.


    Rith didn''t mind keeping the secret for Evin, and she didn''t need to report everything to the Group anymore, so privacy wasn''t a problem. And moreover, she didn''t wish to put Evin in a dangerous spot.


    "That''s fine for me, but isn''t it kinda useless, then?" Rith asked.


    "Well, I''m sure I''ll find a method to use it. For now, let''s get out of here," Evin said and shook his head with a slight smile.

 Chapter 178: Gains

    Chapter 178: Gains


    Evin got outside his shadow and slowly looked at his surroundings, trying to get used to the bright palette of colors. His eyes were a bit unustomed to a scenery that wasn''t just a nd mix of pale white, with the messy addition of blue, so the process took a while.


    [Are you okay, big brother?] Runa''s voice asked him. The skinshifter heavily insisted on going outside with Evin, even though her existence was better off as a secret in Evin''s mind.


    [Don''t worry about it, Runa,] Evin shook his head and reassured Runa, his finger gently fondling the gauntlet on his right hand


    ''It''s sure damn nice to talk to people other than Four And I can finally fill my stomach with something'' he thought happily in his head.


    He wasn''t starving or anything, but it was truly a pain in the ass to be mildly hungry every single moment of a day. It was simr to having your back itch constantly and there was no way for you to deal with it, except to just try and ignore it.


    It was rarely the big things that got you. It was always the small things piling up to be unbearable.


    He then looked at Twelve, who was sitting next to his body.


    "Thank you for looking after me during all this time," Evin said.


    Twelve shook her head and turned her head towards the Cosmic: "Rith, could you please leave us alone for the time being?"


    Rith didn''t object and promptly walked through the hole that Twelve created inside the barrier. Evin was already prepared for this talk, as Four always reminded him that he will most likely be banned from divulging or using many things. And even though he wished it woulde after he had a proper meal, it was probably a bad idea to keep an Authority waiting as he stuffed his face with food.


    "I don''t mind if you spend some time to fill up your stomach," Twelve said, like she knew what Evin was thinking.


    ''Oh my god, I love you!'' Evin thought in his head, but didn''t act out of line in the exterior.


    "Uhh, thanks," he blushed a bit and brought out some bread, jerky and melted cheese from inside his storage ring. He really didn''t want his first meal in a month to be dry jerky and a some slightly stale bread, but he didn''t want to be picky now. At least he had some cheese to give the two ingredients some vor.


    As he ate, he thought about the time he spent inside Four''s World.


    Like the weird girl said herself, hunting and absorbing the souls was extremely easy for Evin. Especially after he regained his magic. And the souls themselves would, more often than not, mindlessly dash at Evin threateningly. Evin thought that Anna''s soul, the first woman that attacked him, could be considered dumb, Evin quickly realized that she was one of the better ones. Most of the others acted simrly to the spirits Evin found back on Earth.


    Four said that after some time, they would be smarter, and a bit more difficult to deal with, but thankfully, such things didn''t happen. Thus, afterboring for five days, Evin was able to hunt down to extinction the 400 or so corrupted souls that were born alongside his own personal World of Death.


    Evin''s goal was obviously the High-quality Soul Mask. Not only did it allow him to have a stable source of Soul Energy, he also didn''t want to carry around a bunch of smaller ones. He also felt like it would be easier to make.


    In any case, Four began to teach Evin the method to create a high-quality Soul Mask, one that was able to grow alongside Evin. But it turned out that the process was much more difficult than Evin imagined. All day and night, he would be processing these poor souls down into these immaterial, white strings, all while their voices would be droning off about one thing or another in his head.


    For some reason, the souls didn''t really act crazy when Evin was going through this process. It was obviously a good thing for Evin, since he really didn''t want to have them screeching or screaming into his head all the time. It also helped Evin pretend the contents of their talk as some kind of white noise, since it mostly didn''t make any sense.


    In any case, he then had to fit all these strands into the shape of a mask, but it all felt like trying to stuff something that was close to bursting. Well it was natural, since while the strings were rtively small by itself, there were still about 400 of them. Thankfully, Four provided him with a mold, so he didn''t need to worry about keeping its shape right. She also exined that the mold will automatically bind and connect the strings in the most optimal way, which was a great help for Evin.


    But Evin still had to constantly exert Heavy energy onto it, so that the strings contained inside it wouldn''t just burst open. And he had to add in the strings one by one, since trying to fit it all in at once was practically impossible.


    This process took him about a twenty days total after which Evin had to delve into the memories that were stored inside the dark-blue orb that was left by Anna.


    Without wasting any time, Four taught him how to bring out those memories. Sorting through them also took a lot of Evin''s time. At that point, the hunger was taking over his senses as well, so focusing on some things became really difficult.


    In the end, he had spent about ten days inside the World of Death, digging through Anna''s memories. But it was very worth it, since he''d gotten so much information from those visions. He was sure that most likely, no one else in the World knew more about the Great Ages before the Empire than himself.


    How society before the Empire worked, how mages couldn''t decide which magic to use, but it was decided almost randomly, how strong and unruly the Hex and Magi of that time were, how the initial use of the Oaths werepletely despotic, which countries had the best balls and parties... all those good stuff.


    Not just stories of the past, he even learned how to productively use mana... though, unfortunately, it was only limited to soul Burning and Molding in general, and Anna''s soul rted tricks and abilities. The ability she could perform using divine essence was interesting for sure, but its use was too niche to be actually useful for Evin in most situations. And he was also sure that there would countless methods to do what she did in the modern day and age.


    One more thing that Evin was disappointed by was Anna''s title.


    Anna was supposed to be an Arch-hex, which sounded really cool and powerful, but the title was mostly just a seniority badge. Anyone who was a mage for 50 years could be one. Obviously, she was still pretty good with how she used her soul, but Evin couldn''t really call her a battle-worthy Hex. After all, the woman couldn''t handle any kind of physical pain, she avoided conflict at all costs.


    Which was why, Anna''s main upation was a healer of the Souls of some sorts... a Soul ''Guru'', if you will. And while she knew a lot of methods to life one''s spirits and invigorate them, she really didn''t go out of herfort zone to try out new things, or try to better her craft for that matter.


    She would much rather spend her time trying to hook up with some nice person, traveling the world, while jumping from man to man. But the problem was, her taste in men was absolutely baffling. Almost two thirds of her life, Anna was going through some toxic rtionship or another. The rest of the time, she would be questioning and regretting her life decisions. It also didn''t help since Anna herself seemed to have unnaturally high standards.


    Even though Evin experienced Anna''s life through his personality, from the life choices she made, Evin could tell what kind of person Anna was. She definitely wasn''t the brightest of people, making the same mistakes over and over, always choosing the worst options out of the choices she was given.


    Thankfully, taking care of one''s soul was a popr practice at the time, so she didn''t live a bad life.


    ''But I can always tell that she took her life very seriously. Just because her choices are bewildering to me, it doesn''t mean that she herself didn''t believe in them. Just because I don''t agree with her, doesn''t mean that she''s wrong... Necessarily...'' Evin concluded unconfidently.


    He didn''t know why, but every idle moment, his head would steer towards these memories.


    Shaking his head, he decided to take Anna''s matter out of his head and focus on his gains.


    Even with Anna''s rather underwhelming abilities, Evin still considered himself pretty lucky, since he could feel how his Soul-burnt spells had be much stronger and cleaner after he applied Anna''s knowledge into it. He also felt more confident in being able to mold his soul properly.


    ''On second thought, I really should''ve been more careful about this, huh?'' Evin thought with worry and caressed his eyes. He managed to mutate another part of his body and it was rted to his eyes. In hindsight, it was probably an unnecessarily risky mutation, as it also involved a very important part of his brain.


    Evin managed to grant himself photographic memory, by messing around with his visual cortex a bit.


    He still didn''t know what took over his mind when he attempted this Soul Mutation suddenly. After he had finished delving through Anna''s memories, he was suddenly reminded of a mutation in the long list that Four gave him, one that worked very simrly to photographic memory.


    He didn''t know why, but he just knew that he would be sessful when he tried to Mold his soul brain for this ability. And without even questioning it, he just went for it. Miraculously, nothing went wrong that time, so Evin was beginning to feel confident. A bit too confident he might add.


    Like a gambler that won one hand, he began to think of all the other mutations that were in Four''s list. Obviously, his mind was thinking about the biggest prize. A second brain.


    Just by thinking about the possibilities it entailed, he would start drooling for it. What if he had two more? Three more? A literal four-head mage?!


    Thankfully, Four managed to convince Evin out of this stupid idea. Even though Evin had a ton of knowledge from Anna''s memories, he stillcked practical training and experience. Perhaps in the future, he would be the four-head mage he dreamt to be.


    ''Hmm... no...'' The more he thought about, the more he was scared of what would happen if something went wrong...


    ''Yeah... Probably not my brightest idea...'' Evin shook his head and gulped thest piece of his jerky.

 Chapter 179: Sating ones curiosity

    Chapter 179: Sating one''s curiosity


    "Ahem," Twelve cleared her voice forcing Evin to look at the simply dressed teenage girl.


    After looking at Four for about a month straight, he could clearly see the differences that Twelve and Four had, even though their facial features could be called almost identical. While Four had a slightly slouchy pose, with sharp, upright eyes, Twelve had a much proper posture with a distinctly dignified bearing. While her eyes weren''t as sharp as Four''s they certainly couldn''t be called droopy. Evin could also say that they had a peculiarly dangerous feel to it.


    ''Maybe I shouldn''t be as casual with her, like I was with Four,'' Evin thought after a bit.


    While he was quite scared of Four at first, he very quickly got used to the girl''s two moods. Even though he was quite curious about the third, yandere personality. But sadly, Four seemed to be very adamant on keeping that one in check.


    Although Four said that she would hibernate most of the time, she was nice enough to keep Evinpany for the entirity of Evin''s exile. Well, the girl was always adamant on the fact that she was being forced to do so. But she did seem to have fun dissing Evin during the whole duration of it...


    "First of all, I must apologize for getting you caught up inside this whole mess in the first ce. Four and the others well, they can be a bit unpredictable sometimes," Twelve apologized in a smooth voice and Evin regathered his stray thoughts.


    ''The others being the ten other supervisors of the Empress'' failed projects...'' Evin thought curiously. Four would sometimes mention her sisters, but would never talk in detail about them. Evin felt like she wanted to, but she was encouraged not to by a certain someone who was standing in front of Evin currently. He himself was happy enough to not put his head in the ho''s nest.


    "Please don''t worry about it. After all, I''ve gotten a lot of things from this ident And I know you did a lot of things to help me out," Evin said while gesturing at the surrounding barrier.


    ''Though, it would''ve been nice if you told me what I was getting into,'' he thought inside.


    "Haah, I''m quite used to cleaning up after the others. Although I wish they''d stop doing so, as it''s utterly meaningless," Twelve sighed.


    ''I''m pretty sure they do it, because there''s nothing else to do. I''ve seen how Four acted most of the time, bored and searching for the next thing to do,'' Evin thought, but steered the conversation to the main problem at hand.


    "In any case, can I assume you want to talk about keeping the Empress'' past and the use of Divine Essence a secret?"


    "About that As you can probably guess, anything that concerns the failed Worlds and the history of the Empress must be kept secret," Twelve said softly.


    Evin didn''t bother asking why, as he didn''t want to exin how he knew these things in the first ce.


    "As for your Soul magic, I will not forbid you from using it, as long as you chalk up a proper excuse for it, when you''re using it in public. Perhaps you can simply call it your specialty I know a few who do the same. Oh and also, for the time being, please don''t use raw mana to Break Spells. You can use my World''s energy for those purposes," Twelve said.


    "What should I do about the Kingdom''s Oath?" Evin asked. The Kingdom''s Oath forced every mage to divulge and exin any new type of magic they used.


    "Don''t worry about that. The kingdom should know of those things already and they won''t ask you where you learned it from as well. And you should also remember that the Oaths and the various Contracts will not apply for any information that concerns the Empress and her past," Twelve exined calmly.


    "What about the use of Divine Essence?" Evin asked.


    "Technically, since they''re just mana, it''s a bit hard to keep their use hidden... But I''ll make a slight exception for you and make it so that you won''t have to speak of those things," Twelve said.


    ''Hmm Well, considering that it can be rted to what the Empress did when she was still the Princess of Denial, I suppose it couldn''t be helped Though considering her behavior, something tells me that even if everyone knew about the Empress'' past, she wouldn''t really care much...


    ''So does that mean that the reason the information is being contained is for another reason,'' Evin wondered.


    But that wasn''t something that concerned him much. What he was interested in was something else. It was just that he was awfully afraid of actually asking the question.


    ''Shit, it wouldn''t hurt to ask. At worst, Twelve would be slightly annoyed,'' he eventually amde up his mind.


    "Can you tell me more about the memories that I saw inside Four''s World? Why the Empress led a bloody crusade against the World, meticulously killing every single person on the world..." Evin asked.


    Twelve eyed Evin with a half smile, before shaking her head.


    "Why did the Empress do those things? Well, unfortunately, I don''t have the answers for you. Just know that aside from the Authorities and another very special group of people, you''re probably the only one who knows about the Empress'' past. For your information, probably the only reason she left you alive was because youe from another World and she''s slightly interested in where you might end up," Twelve said, a threatening hint in her voice.


    Listening to the answer, Evin tactfully shut his mouth. He didn''t need any more hints.


    ''It isn''t my ce to question a goddess. It would be too tragic to die for my curiosity,'' he thought resolutely.


    "Do you have anything else for me?" he asked, trying to break the sudden eerie silence.


    "Ah yes, mother the Empress invited you toe to the next Velvet Procession. Please make sure you don''t miss it," Twelve said smilingly.


    "She''s inviting me personally?"


    ''Is it to talk to me about the memories? Why does she need to see me personally?'' Evin couldn''t help but think.


    "So it seems If you find yourself unable to turn up at the time due to external reasons, will yourself to enter the World of Time. My World''s doors will always be open for you, no matter the problems you might be facing," Twelve said reassuringly, the previous threatening tone all but gone.


    Evin thought about what Twelve meant when she said that Evin could ess Twelve''s World at all times. Thinking a bit, he realized that Twelve was willing to help Evin out if he needed it.


    ''That''s nice to hear. It''s like a get out of jail free card. Though I should probably not use it to get out of any and all situations, provided I''m not about to literally die or anything,'' Evin thought.


    "Thank you for your help," he then replied simply.


    "That''s all for the time being. Good luck on your training, Evin. Oh, and thank the old man for not making a fuss. I wouldn''t want to bother Kal for such small things, after all," Twelve said and waved her hands.


    A portal appeared in front of her and she jumped into it, dispelling the barrier that was protecting Evin. Registering what just happened, Evin hurriedly put his Soul Mask and his spear inside his Storage Ring.


    He looked around and found Nasst and Rith sitting next to each other, speaking about something.


    "Oh, you''re finally awake. Is the Authority gone?" Nasst asked, a hint of regret in his voice.


    "Yes, though she did tell me to thank you for not making a fuss," Evin replied and asked: "What were you two talking about?"


    As far as he knew, the two really couldn''t be considered close.


    "We''ve just been talking about your training regime. Seems like you''ll be busy learning the wonders of the World of Space under Rith''s instructions," Nasst replied smilingly.


    ''Ah, that.''


    "Oh, I don''t know if this is important, but I''m able to use Time energy without much problems. I''ll probably need some time to get used to it, since I''m unable to use a lot of it at the same time," Evin said, suddenly reminded why he got into this whole mess in the first ce.


    "That''s great. I''m really running out of things to teach you, huh? Well, it saves a lot of trouble, since it would be a pain to have you learn about how most spells are constructed. But now that you can brute force your way through most of them, I just need to teach you how to distinguish spells from natural urrence created by a spell," Nasstughed.


    ''Wait he was going to teach me what now?'' Evin thought, thanking Twelve for letting him use Time Energy.


    No matter how he thought about it, learning about how mages cast all their magic sounded like some extremely tedious work.

 Chapter 180: Remnants of the dead

    Chapter 180: Remnants of the dead


    ''But maybe it would be useful to know about it, just in case? At least it could be helpful for my own spellcasting'' Evin couldn''t help but think, as he pondered about the matter a bit.


    ''No-no. That''s just too much work for something optional. Even if I somehow meet a spell I can''t dismantle through the World of Time, I''d rather suffer through that, instead of suffering through optional studies'' Evin thought unconfidently.


    As for what he would do when said unbreakable spell was threatening to kill him, well, that wasn''t something he would consider when he was trying to ck off.


    ''Besides, if it can''t be dispelled by Time energy or raw mana, it''s probably too hard to disassemble through normal means, anyway,'' he thought and put the matter out of his head.


    "By the way, what will you be teaching me next?" Evin asked Nasst.


    "For the time being, we''ll focus on getting your mana-core bigger. And before I forget it, here," Nasst said and gave Evin a big wooden box.


    Evin opened it and found that it contained another set of syringes and a bottled Core Shard. But this time, there wasn''t a weird, web-like dark thing, but a bright pink liquid that was constantly being mixed around.


    "You should know that from now on, you should start absorbing Core Shards for other Worlds as well. Their help in strengthening your magic is almost non-existent, but the effects are still there," Nasst exined.


    "And also, they reduce the chances of you being rejected entry into a World. My advice is to absorb two courses of a Dark World''s Core Shard, and then absorb one course of another World''s core shard. Obviously, if you find an alternative method of increasing your Core-size, those are good as well. Depending on how much it would affect your core," Rith added.


    "Alright. I''ll make sure to keep that in mind in the future," Evin replied.


    "But don''t use that for the time being. I have a small surprise for you tomorrow," Nasst smiled.


    Evin was a bit curious to what this surprise was, but didn''t wish to bother with it for the time being. He was also very sleepy.=


    "Oh and also, do you have anything you want to ask from me?" Nasst asked, his fingers on his chin.


    "Do you know about methods to reduce the Worlds'' emotional effects?" Evin asked. He spent a lot of time thinking about things inside Four''s World, when he was making his Soul Mask. One thing he realized was that he still hadn''t found a solution to this old problem of his.


    "But as far as I know, you don''t really have any problems with that do you?" Nasst asked with a confused face.


    "Well, I have my reasons," Evin didn''t really wish to talk about why, as it involved his origins.


    "If you say so It''s a bit of an obscure topic, as most mages get used to its pressure gradually and never really face a problem of being overwhelmed by the emotional effects they have on them," Nasst said and began thinking.


    "The only thing I can think of is when a mage somehow bes unable to use magic for a long time, and then gets ess to itter. Perhaps in those cases they meet such problems?" Rith voiced out a potential situation from the side.


    She obviously knew about Evin''s past, so she could see how the emotional effects may be a problem for him. Though she didn''t really understand why Evin needed a solution now. She guessed that something must''ve happened to him while he was in that weird state.


    "I''ll try to search through the channels that are avable to me," Nasst offered smilingly.


    ''Why is he so amiable now?'' Evin thanked the elder man, but he couldn''t help but feel a bit suspicious of him, thinking of how he acted previously.


    Even though there was a mental gap of a month and a debatable century or so, Evin still remembered Nasst''s weird mentalshout.


    ''Maybe Twelve''s appearance spooked him?'' Evin thought of a possible reason for the apparent change of attitude.


    Obviously, from what Evin could understand, Twelve just came to Evin to make sure that Four didn''t do anything out of line, make sure that Evin wasn''t going to spill any beans and also inform him that the Empress wanted to see him.


    But in the eyes of a bystander like Nasst, an Authority personally came to make sure he was alright, and even stood guard next to him for almost half a day. A literal demigod of unparalleled power, swooping in to help some half-core, like he was the most important person in their lives.


    Evin was sure that not a lot of people had ever received such a luxury. And the cherry on top was the fact that unlike most other Authorities that were affiliated with the Four countries, Twelve was affiliated with the Empress. A literal Goddess! The leaders of the Four countries were tantamount to jack-shit next to her, not to mention Nasst, a small-time head of the Department of Intelligence of the Northern Tribe Union


    And it wasn''tpletely out of line, or random, since Nasst knew that Evin was connected with the former Authority Kena. It was something that could happen.


    ''Thinking about it now, I would actually be surprised if Nasst didn''t act nicely with me,'' Evin thought with glee.


    ''In the end, having a strong backing was the best. No wonder those young masters from noble houses get so cocky. If I didn''t know that there would always be someone out there ready to fuck me up for my arrogance, I would probably act like them as well!'' Evin thought happily.


    "Hmm well, if you don''t mind, I''m going back to my room to sleep," Evin said, ending the awkwardly silent conversation.


    "Alright, tomorrow morning after training your Authority Style, please find me and we''ll go to the bathroom," Nasst said.


    "Hmm?" Evin''s voice couldn''t help but go a pitch higher, wondering if he heard something wrong.


    "It''s for your mana-core," Nasst exined with augh.


    "Oh, alright. I''ll be there afterwards, then."


    ''Guess it''s that surprise of his... Though why do you people have to always say it so weirdly?'' he grumbled in his head and walked outside the test room.


    After he entered his room, he couldn''t help but be delighted by the fact that everything looked much cleaner and ''alive''. Outside the window, instead of a gigantic blue tree that spewed out Soul energy, was the evening sky, with a few bright stars appearing here and there. Evin silently savored its beauty, feeling d that he was alive currently. A weirdly hearfelt smile appeared on his face.


    "What happened to you?" Rith asked from the side, noticing that there was something wrong with him.


    "Nothing," Evin shook his head gently and hugged Rith. He was trying really hard to keep himself from tearing up, another new trait that he inherited from Anna.


    ''At this point, I don''t even know if I should keep these traits or try to get rid of them'' Evin thought, reminded of the weirdly familiar foreign life he went through. He could argue that these habits were one of the only things left from Anna.


    He felt pity for the woman he really did. The only reason he wanted to ask Twelve about the Empress'' reasons ofmitting such ughter was because of Anna. In every other case, if he had just chanced about this information in a book somewhere that the Empress hadmitted mass genocide before her ascension Evin was sure that he wouldn''t care one bit about the matter.


    Even if he learned that the Final Empress had genocides for breakfast, he would probably shrug it off as a slightly weird flex and go on with his live.


    But since Anna had lived through it, well, it suddenly became awfully personal. Obviously, this didn''t mean that he would go to the Empress and demand that she exined herself. Evin was simply too selfish too logical for that.


    ''Knowing the reasons would not help Anna. Not even a bit. The dead could not receive help. Well most of the time,'' Evin thought and smiled wryly. He always felt like the act of doing something for dead people waspletely pointless.


    ''By that logic, it wouldn''t really matter for Anna, whether I kept these habits or got rid of them'' he thought, feeling slight disgust for himself. But this feeling of disgust didn''tst long, since that was just how Evin was.


    ''Hail logic,'' he thought and let go of Rith.


    "It''s all in the past. But now, I just want to sleep," he said and jumped onto his bed.


    Rith seemed a bit dissatisfied with the answer, but she knew she wouldn''t get anything out of him. She then willed the lights to turn off and lied down onto her own corner on Evin''s huge bed.

 Chapter 181: Bath of Darkness

    Chapter 181: Bath of Darkness


    Evin sat inside a tub of dark liquid, feeling scammed and betrayed.


    He checked his mind again and sure enough, there it was:


    [ Find St and inquire from him about the origins of the Horn, as well as the battle of the Fourteen Heroes ]


    ''Didn''t I technical learn about the battle of the Fourteen Heroes already? I''m pretty sure I learned a lot of things that Kena intended me to see in his series of quests There should definitely be something regarding the Twelve Failed projects of the Empress as well, or whatever they were called officially'' Evin couldn''t help but think.


    Technically he also knew about the origins of the Horns, as he heard about it from Nasst.


    The only thing he didn''t do was actually meeting St. But Evin was sure that doing so wouldn''t really matter much. Unless...


    ''Maybe St is supposed to do something else to me'' he then thought hopefully, before he shook his head with a shudder. He remembered having a simr conversation with Rith at some point, about the dangers of the Authorities. Evin didn''t take Rith''s advice to heart at the time and look where it got him. Well, the series of events wasn''t really his fault, but he really didn''t want to be put inside some unknown World again.


    ''But this quest of Kena should at least show me what I''m supposed to do after I meet St'' Evin thought annoyedly.


    The more he learned about St, the more Kena''s mission seemed like a scam. Apparently, the Authority would go around living under many different names for whatever reason. Evin was sure that if St wanted to hide from the world, Evin would never be able to find him. And even if he somehow chanced upon him, he wouldn''t really know about it, since there was no way for him to distinguish St from a normal bystander.


    The only method Evin could think of to find St was to have the other Authorities search for him. From what they said, Evin was sure that they could distinguish St from normal people.


    ''Maybe I could ask them how they distinguish if it''s him in the first ce?'' Evin though of a daring idea. At least this way, he wouldn''t just miss the man identally if he happened to chance upon him Evin regretted not being more proactive when hest met the Authorities, but the atmosphere felt a bit off at the time, so he didn''t want to annoy them.


    Obviously, all that depended on the fact that he could actually learn how to find him. But, this was the only thing he could think of now. If it didn''t work he could give up on it and trust in his luck.


    Shaking his head, he focused on the bath he was having. He could feel the power of Darkness seeping into his skin, slowly but surely working its way towards his heart. Evin didn''t understand the logic behind it, but he really didn''t mind this method of increasing the size of his mana-core. Nasst stood next to him, to make sure that nothing went wrong with the process. But, it seemed very unlikely for the elder''s help to be needed.


    "Your World Sprites make me feel so jealous" Nasst muttered for the umpteenth time.


    Apparently, Evin was supposed to suffer greatly during this process, trying his best to gather and absorb as much of the Core Shards as possible, his heart stinging every time a drop of it was wasted but thanks to the existence of the World Sprites, he really didn''t need to do anything. The Core Shard''s pieces were actively trying to dig their way into his heart, leaving Evin with nothing to do, but casually enjoy the process of his mana-core developing rapidly.


    Speaking of the World Sprites, they were still lying unconscious inside Evin''s shadow, every one of them soundly hibernating. Evin wasn''t worried about them.


    When he first checked up on them after noticing that something was wrong, he noticed that they were developing stronger souls. They looked much more alive now,pared to the time when they looked like animate dolls. They now had different faces, varying genders and even different sizes. He didn''t know how long it would take them to fully stabilize and get used to their stronger souls, but he guessed it wouldn''t take too long.


    One more thing Evin noticed was that when he activated his soul vision, he could see how other people''s souls looked if he put his mind into it. It was a bit hard to learn this fact, since there really wasn''t much difference between one''s body and their soul. It wasn''t like normal people''s souls didn''t glow light blue like the Corrupted Souls.


    Evin could notice the difference because Rith''s soul looked different from normal. In Evin''s eagle eyes, Rith looked like how she first appeared inside the World of Space. Arge Felines with a dark body, one covered with countless stars. Evin could also see that Rith had be stronger, since her yellow stars had turned almost white like her brother''s at some point.


    ''I guess their star colors change as they be stronger. I''m guessing it goes from red to orange, then yellow, then white and finally blue? But from what I could see, there''s two colors in the half-core level, which are yellow and white. If the lesser-imposer level is blue, then what happens when they be super-imposers?'' Evin wondered.


    ''Hmm whatever it is, Rith is bing very strong, very quickly I always wondered how people increase the core sizes so quickly. Apparently it''s like this,'' slouching inside the bathtub, Evin sighed in a satisfying tone.


    ''When is she finding the time to sit in a bathtub of Space energy though?'' Evin thought idly.


    In any case, it was a nice change of pace,pared to his lifestyle inside Four''s World. Just rx and be stronger. Absolutely no need forplicated training or practice...


    ...


    After some time, Evin noticed that he finished absorbing every drop of the Core Shard at hand. He got out of the tub and dressed up. The two then went to the small ssroom inside the mansion.


    "How big did your mana-core be?" Nasst asked after sitting down on his spot.


    "It went from 41.8% to 43.7% I think," Evin said, satisfied with the progress he made. Today''s gain was more than his three months'' worth ofbor. This meant that the total amount of mana he could absorb had increased to almost 28 kgs! Evin excitedly thought about all the new things he could do with such a huge amount of mana.


    Nasst nodded with satisfaction and started exining the process.


    "Well, in the ideal situations, your mana-core''s progress should look something like that: A long period of gradual increase and one big spike. And you repeat this process. There are tons of methods to spontaneously increase the size of your mana-core, like the bath you just took. But overusing these will be highly detrimental for your growth, so you have to follow it up with a method that works over a long period of time, like the syringes. Centuries of experimentation showed that this is the best method."


    Evin listened attentively to the elder''s words, since he wasn''t always going to have Nasst helping with the growth of his mana-core.


    "This will also help you get used to the newfound powers you absorb. I know a few people who have strong mana-cores, but somehow unable to use them to its full extent. Don''t be like them. The path of a mage is filled with progress and experimentation. Now that your mana intake has increased so dramatically, you should try your hands at different methods of attacking. And also you will notice that every one of your abilities have be more powerful. I''m pretty sure that one of your serious punches wouldpletely obliterate a normal person. I definitely rmend you to go to the Test roomter and see how different it feels exactly," Nasst smiled.


    Evin thought of the various spells he had and imagined the amount of destruction he could wreak upon his enemies. And to think that he''d be much stronger than that, he couldn''t help but feel fearful of himself. And this was with only 28 kgs of mana. Imagining what lesser-imposers, much less super-imposers could do with their hundreds and thousands kgs of mana was simply baffling to him.


    "Now you might be wondering howe super-imposers like us haven''t yet destroyed the whole world yet, with the huge amounts of mana we can move to our will" Nasstughed.


    Evin nodded, remembering how in Anna''s memories, Perdrakarpletely destroyed an entire penins, basically creating what was the Southern Inds of today. From what he could understand from the memories, the average power of modern mages was a level above the Hex and Magi of the past, due to the many different Worlds they could ess.


    But Evin could tell that the ones who were truly powerful in the past were much more domineering than the super-imposers and lesser-imposers that he saw. This feeling of Evin mostly stemmed from the fact that he never saw a super-imposer fight before. But the fight he witnessed between the Hero of Sun and the three Heroes of the Nosk Empire was so unbelievable, he couldn''t help but call the event a near apocalyptic event. This led him to another question.


    "How many super-imposers are there in the World?"


    "You probably feel like there are quite a lot of them in the World, since you''ve met so many powerful individuals but there are only 40 known super-imposers in the entire World. And the difference between their powers is worlds apart. If you think the difference between 20 kgs of mana is big, imagine the difference between thousands of them. Even though I''m a super-imposer myself, when I look at someone like Kena or Kal, who is the current leader of the Paradra, I feel the same as how you would feel when you look at me," Nasstughed wryly.

 Chapter 182: Actually overpowered?

    Chapter 182: Actually overpowered?


    Evin could see how that would make sense. After all, the level of super-imposers spanned from 1000 kgs of mana to 10000s. So if Nasst was a newbie super-imposer at the range of 1000-2000 well, naturally, someone like Kal, who can probably use up to 10000 kgs of mana would almost look illegal.


    Compared to them, Evin being proud of his measly 28 kgs was almost sad. But the more he thought about it, the more Evin was confused.


    ''First of all, how the fuck are they even able to contain that much energy inside a fucking 10 cm mana-core? Secondly, what would they even do with such huge amounts of mana?! Seriously, how the fuck is the World still alive and kicking?!''


    If one of those forty super-imposers decided to go psycho one day, the damage they could do was unimaginable. Just thinking about it, Evin''s face gradually turned into a frown.


    ''Perhaps the Oaths forbid mages to wantonly userge area-of-effect spells, since it might indirectly harmmon people Wait, now that I think about it, I guess the Oaths are there to keep them in check?'' Evin thought and looked inside his body.


    He didn''t notice it before, but he could see that his two Oaths had be stronger. This made him conclude that the Oaths grew more powerful alongside him.


    ''If not, then how would these things would be able to threaten those super-imposers?'' he thought with thankfulness.


    Evin never thought that he would be grateful for the Oaths. They always felt like a restriction to him, but now he could see why these restrictions were necessary. Since every mage was forced to take the Oath when they were just beginner mages, then even if they be someone like Kal in the future, they would still have to respect its rules.


    ''And after they be an Authority somehow, they would have to follow the Empress'' rules,'' he concluded.


    This gave him the feeling that mages were always forced to restrict themselves, because of the non-mages. Well, Evin could see why this was so, since he could see how often Divine Essence users tended to just identally killmon people before the Empire was founded. Obviously variousws were put down to get rid of these idents, but they were mostly useless. After all, no one would want to kill or punish a Hex or a Magi because of some randommoner. A Divine Essence user would always be more important than a normal person.


    But under the rule of the Empress and the four countries, a non-mage dying at the hand of a mage was an extremely rare event. After all, they knew that if they tried to attack one for whatever reason, they would be the one lying on the ground.


    Obviously, mages could still defend themselves when attacked, so non-mages couldn''t just walk all over their faces


    Evin saw how this current system created a delicate bnce between the two groups of people and he couldn''t help but feel admiration. The weaker group would regard the stronger group politely, because of their inherent differences, while the stronger group was forced to act politely the weaker group, since that was the uncheatablew of the World.


    ''This is kinda amazing'' he thought absentmindedly, before pulling himself together.


    "You seem prone to space out easilytely Everything alright?" Nasst asked, a curious expression on his face.


    "Sorry about that. It seems I''ve developed a bad habit," Evin apologized. Since he spent a lot of time alone in Four''s World, he was a bit unused to normal social interactions.


    "Well, regardless, you don''t have to worry about super-imposers and whatnot for the time being. What I want to teach you now is something else," Nasst said and steered the conversation back to its original topic.


    Evin regathered his attention.


    "Tell me honestly, how strong do you think you are as a mage?" Nasst asked suddenly.


    The sudden question surprised Evin a bit.


    ''How strong would I call myself?'' he thought suddenly and thought about his fights against other mages.


    The first time he used magic was against Norna''s group of thugs. At that time, he could really feel how powerful mages werepared to non-mages. Then he saw Aran and Abvelgail kill the two mages with some unknown method. But at that time Evin was pretty out of it, since he had just destroyed his mana-core.


    The next time he fought was in the forest against the mages from the East. But the fight could almost be called a joke, where Rith just yed around with them a bit, before deciding to kill them. Sure, this was his first proper fight against mages, but due to how it yed out, Evin couldn''t help but feel underwhelmed about it.


    After that, was his fight against Parvan. Weirdly, this was one his more challenging fights, since at the time, he was just a beginner-mage, with no Channeling Artifact or any other artifact for that matter. So, he could''ve lost pretty easily if he made a blunder or something simr.


    ''But in the end, I won because Parvan was too inexperienced at fighting.''


    As for the fight against Gshin, even though he fought against three half-cores, the fight was rtively tame. He managed to kill the woman using Karan''s special traits, and then killed one of the men using his Dark Room, suffocationbo. The mage he dueled had some shy mes that would have probably killed Evin if he didn''t have ess to his shadows, but in the end, the man could only wave his powers around before getting killed.


    ''Obviously things went to shit after Gshin decided to act, but overall, I''d say I did alright in that fight, considering I was against half-cores'' Evin thought a bit before realizing how powerful he became since then.


    ''Am I actually overpowered? I did kill that instructor, whoever his name was, almost identally, right? But why do I feel so weak all the time?'' Evin couldn''t help but think.


    And in hisst fight against Arza, he could clearly feel how strong he''d actually be. The Authority style, his battle-mode, his more powerful Heavy World, and his increased mana-core size. And he didn''t even use any of the illusions he learned beforehand.


    But Arza wasn''t someone so weak either. The boy''s biggest problem in Evin''s opinion was that he justcked proper training. If any of Arza''s rough attacks managed to hit Evin, then Evin would be the one in trouble. If Deminte managed to help the boy with that, then Arza would be many times stronger than before. But even after all that, Evin was confident he wouldn''t lose to Arza.


    All this lead to Evin concluding the following.


    "I guess I''m pretty powerful?" he said unconfidently.


    Nasstughed loudly, listening to Evin say it in such a questioning tone.


    "Ha-ha-ha. I really don''t know why you think you''re weak. You''re stronger than almost every half-core on Alvox! Obviously, you can never surpass the gap between you and a lesser-imposer, because of World domains, but anyone below that well, they''re going to have a hard fight against you."


    "But what about mycking mana? Why wouldn''t a peak half-core just overwhelm me with their superior firepower?" Evin asked.


    "Okay, let me ask you this. Do you ever feel restricted by your mana?" Nasst asked suddenly.


    "When I''m using the World of Life and the World of Earth And I suppose I felt simrly about the Heavy World when I didn''t know about its World Switch," Evin replied after pondering a bit.


    Evin could also feel that his World of Fire spell was alsocking when he was trying to burn down the corrupted soul tree. But he managed to burn it down quickly after creating an excess of air with the World of Storms and let the fire grow by itself. He only needed to keep burning his soul, while also maintaining his original World of Fire spell.


    But aside from these examples, he never really felt like hecked mana.


    "I''m sorry for asking you this, but were you someone who studied natural sciences before you were reincarnated?" Nasst asked suddenly.


    "Yes," Evin answered shortly. He wasn''t going to deny it, but he wouldn''t talk a lot about it as well.


    "Then you should know how most things work in nature, right? For example, when you''re trying to create a fire, you would spark one and then let air do the rest. You would just need to will it to not disappear. Same thing with Storms. There''s tons of air around you, you just need to gather it up and throw it at someone. It''s not like it doesn''t do the same thing sometimes," Nasst articted.


    "I suppose."


    "But when you''re trying to lift rocks and turn them into an armor of some sorts that protect you, you feel like it''s too unnatural, so you end up spending a lot of mana on it. Then it bes almost impossible when you have to create the pieces of Earth yourself," Nasst said smilingly.


    "Wait you can do that?" Evin was baffled by the idea that someone could create dirt and stones out of nothing.


    "Of course you can. If you can create a dark room of shadows with a bunch of ws and a giant maw swimming inside it, why can''t people create Earth out of nothing?" Nasst snorted.


    "I suppose"


    "At any rate, all these traits means you''re a logical mage," Nasst finally exined.

 Chapter 183: Logic vs Willpower

    Chapter 183: Logic vs Willpower


    Evin looked back at Nasst, urging him to continue. The elder seemed to not mind the urging and sat into a morefortable position. He then pulled out the pair of metal balls and then started to slowly spin them on his hands.


    "Well, Let''s start from the beginning. Mages can be widely divided into two categories: willpower-based and logic-based. Us logic-based ones would always try to cast our spells in ordance to natural rules, so it''s extremely difficult for us to cast spells that don''t really conform to natural rules. Obviously, we could cast them by substituting logic with willpower, or in your case, World Sprites, but the spell''s fundamentals are always based on logic," Nasst said.


    "But the things I can do with magic, they''re pretty illogical in and of itself aren''t they?" Evin questioned.


    "Okay, I''ll give you an example. You said that you have trouble with the World of Life, right? I''m guessing that you have to focus on the process a bit for you to heal yourself fully... or maybe it takes a little more mana to work properly. Why do you think it is so?"


    "Because I feel that rapid regeneration of muscle and skin tissues; and the reattachment of bones and whatnot are too illogical."


    "Great, you also know some biology as well. If so then you should also know that even if you don''t do anything, you body will most likely heal itself. Very rarely your body will leave an injury of some sorts without healing it naturally, right?" Nasst asked smilingly.


    "I suppose so."


    "That''s most likely the logical foundation that your subconscious creates to help cast your spell. You''re just using some mana and your willpower to quicken this natural process a bit. Another example would be your Dark Room. I don''t know the exact logical chain you create when you cast the spell, but the most likely one I can think of is the absence of light. Shadow in itself is the absence of light. That would be your logical foundation. So, if you want to make a dark spot bigger, you can simply imagine something invisible in the air, blocking out the sunlight thus creating a shadowy spot," Nasst said, his hands on his chin.


    ''Well, actually, I think of the absorption of light when I try to create a dark spot, since if I simply imagine something blocking the air, it would still be decently illuminated by the surrounding things reflecting light onto the spot thatcks sunlight'' Evin retorted in his head.


    ''Instead of something like that, I just imagine a thinyer of a material that absorbs light extremely well as the walls and the floor of the Dark Room This way I can move it around a bit easier as well''


    After experimenting a bunch, this was the best method he came up with. If he tried to make the spell work without thinking about it like this, most of the time, he would end up failing horribly.


    But thinking about the subject made him realize something else.


    "Then what about willpower-based mages? You mean to say that they only use their willpower to fuel their spells?" Evin found it very hard to believe.


    "I know that it seems baffling to you, but you do realize that almost 80% of humanoid mages cast their spells like this, right?" Nasst shook his head.


    "What?! Why?" Evin asked, unable to contain the confusion in his head. He really didn''t know why this bothered him so much. He felt like someone told him that there are actual real people who would rather swim through a river since the bridge is only 99% safe.


    "Ha-ha, I knew this would bother you very much. Aside from the Cosmics, who are practically all logical mages, most of the human mages don''t really understand how science works," Nasstughed loudly.


    "But it''s so inefficient" Evin muttered under his breath.


    "This is why the spells of willpower-based mages are extremely weak in their earlier levels of magehood. You should understand that willpower is a quantifiable measurement for mages. If you have to use a lot of your willpower for too many things at one time, you''re probably going to fail at your spell more often than not. This is also the reason willpower-based mages prefer to focus on only one or two Worlds. Any more than that, their willpower starts to becking. Which also leads to themcking mana in general. After all, spells created with mostly willpower usually require a lot of mana. They can offset this disadvantage by implementing runes in their spells, but it really doesn''t help too much." Nasst shrugged.


    "Wait, wait, I need to think about this a bit," Evin waved his hands, still very pissed off for whatever reason.


    ''Wait, does this mean that Arza casts his magic like this? Is that why his every spell other than the World of Life are so shit? Now that I think about it, every mage that I fought against seemed to have pretty shitty spells, huh'' Evin thought, once again reminded of his past fights.


    "But why is it like that? Surely it isn''t that hard to teach mages about natural sciences from their young age so they can be more cost-effective with their spells?" Evin asked.


    "Tell me, did anyone ever tell you how nature worked after you became a mage? Open up any book for beginner mages and you''ll see that it just tells you to fill your mana-core with a World energy and then imagine the desired effect. None of them include anything concrete about how wind and me works in reality."


    "But it tells us to imagine something, right? Shouldn''t mages imagine something believable so it''s easier for them to create their desired effects?" Evin asked.


    "The way you imagine things, and the way a willpower-based mage imagines a thing arepletely different things. You imagine something logical with a hint of something magical, while what they imagine would be somethingpletely magical," Nasst exined.


    "But they could just go and ask a scientist of some sorts about how things work, right? Don''t tell me the Four Countries ban anything rted to natural science as well," Evin asked, sighing gloomily.


    "Of course they don''t. But they don''t have to inform the mages and it''s not like mages would think of doing that by themselves. After all, they''re assuming that their willpower-based spells are working perfectly fine. Unless of course, they''re naturally a logic-based mage and are really struggling with willpower-based spellcasting. But even in those cases, they would first think of asking their seniors or teachers, before thinking of searching for amoner scientist."


    "And since this process is beneficial for the Four Countries, who could give the required information by exchanging it for merits, so it''s unlikely that they will change how it works," Evin realized and then wondered how he would end up if he didn''t have ess to the information he possessed.


    "Exactly. The people on the top like clever underlings but they don''t like it when they''re too smart," Nasst sighed before continuing: "I''m pretty sure I don''t need to tell you this, but I encourage you to not spread this information too widely, yeah? It''s probably fine to share it with your family and close friends, but any more than that, well"

 Chapter 184: Future plans

    Chapter 184: Future ns


    ''Well, some things never change'' Evin sighed, listening to Nasst''s meaningful stare. He wasn''t unfamiliar with how these things worked and he also knew how painfully pointless it was to try and change anything.


    Winners stood atop society and they absolutely hated losing. The ones on the bottom were forever doomed to struggle and suffer.


    One could probably achieve their ideals if they were someone like the Empress Almighty, forcing everyone to agree to their beliefs.


    ''But something tells me that even if you were that powerful of an existence, you wouldn''t be able to do anything you wished to'' Evin thought, reminded of the Empress'' past.


    After giving some time to Evin to digest the contents of the talk, Nasst resumed.


    "But getting back to topic, don''t think that willpower-based mages are useless. Since they follow a single World to its utmost limits, they can be extremely powerful in the end. Their growth could be called explosive and abruptpared to us who grow linearly by constantly trying out new things and then slowly perfecting them."


    Evin supposed it was true. A master of one would always beat a jack of all trades well, most of the time.


    The biggest example was Arza. Evin knew that the red-haired boy was going to be extremely hard to deal with his World of Life.


    "[One method to conquer all problems]. That''s probably the most famous saying among willpower-based mages. After a certain point, they learn how to use their one World to deal with all other Worlds. Obviously depending on their growth, they would be able to deal with some things better than others but eventually, they''ll have a proper response to any situation. And all these methods will use their most talented World in one way or another."


    "The biggest example would be your little friend Arza. After some proper training, his strengthened body would simply be too strong and too tough to deal with normal measures. At some point, his body would be so magical, so infused with Life energy, that even the portal des of the Cosmics wouldn''t be able to cut through his skin. You''d have to use something like a World Domain to negate his World of Life buffs, or use a piercing or debilitating specialty to bypass his defenses," Nasst stated.


    "Isn''t that the same with us? We may know a lot of different things, but in the end, we only have one most powerful World," Evin asked.


    "That is true. For you it''s your Darkness, while for me it''s the Winds. And it''s not like knowing more things will be detrimental to us in any way. We don''t have to worry about tainting our ''True Path'' with unnecessary information," Nasst smiled.


    "The True Path?"


    "It''s what the willpower-based mages call their method of pursuing one World Though they will try to sell it as something more than that. Something more mystical and wonderful Saying things like knowing too many things would affect their main World negatively, or that one should be more faithful to their true path, etc. etc. In my eyes, they''re just deluding themselves with some kind of cebo or nocebo thing," Nasst scoffed.


    "I''m guessing Deminte is someone like that?" Evin asked, almost a hundred percent sure that Arza will start pursuing this True Path or whatever.


    "That she is And although I hate to admit it, because of that fact, she is probably the stronger of the two of us" Nasst said wistfully, a clear contrast to how he was just scoffing at the pursuers of the True Path.


    Evin wanted to ask him what his deal with Deminte was, but couldn''t quite get himself to. Something told him that ''Psycho Nasst'' woulde out if he did that.


    "But I am the more versatile one heh," Nasst smile wryly, before exaggeratedly speaking: "Wow, we''ve gone on a very long tangent. What were we talking about before all this willpower vs logic thing?"


    "We were talking about how strong I was" Evin replied, a bit ufortable.


    "Ah yes. From this conversation, you should understand how strong you are,pared to other mages. Well, it''s quite inevitable since on top of being a logical-mage due to being a Child of the Empress, you''re also being personally trained by a super-imposer. The Authority Style, the gestures you can use, these resources you''re getting, the ability to use Time energy. All these thingsbined made you something almost untouchable amongst half-cores. Not only that, you''re also going to learn the World of Space from Rith and then the Somaturgy expert wille and hopefully turn your World Sprites into a small army of some sorts," Nasst concluded excitedly.


    Evin felt a bit weird being praised like this, but logic said that everything Nasst said was correct, so


    ''Hail Logic''


    "Oh, now I remember what I was trying to talk about originally: I have one more thing to teach you. This should also answer your question about how peak half-cores and above use all that excess mana they have. And after you''ve finished learning these things, I''m going to have you work for four months or so, before next year''s Horn Ceremony begins." Nasst exined his ns for Evin.


    "Actually, can I get a 10-day break so I can visit my family? With Arza if that''s possible? I''ll try to talk with Deminte myself to make it happen," Evin asked after hesitating a bit.


    "That should be possible But could you tell me why?"


    "Just a little visit, to see how they''re doing. And as you know, I became two years older due to the Time Bomb after I left, so I kinda want to let them know as soon as possible. And I''m also thinking of leaving them a propermunication device so we can keep contact even when I''m staying here," Evin exined.


    "And why take Arza with you?"


    "Well, he has a family too, you know? And probably, he''s the one who needs it more than me anyway," Evin said jokingly.


    "I guess you''re right. I''ll talk to Deminte about it and arrange it," Nasst said.


    "Thank you," Evin said, but wondered if such a thing was possible. He felt that the two''s rtionship wasn''t something so simple, so was it alright if Nasst just walked up to her and told her to give Arza a break?


    ''Didn''t Deminte sent an assassin or something to give me a warning or something? And when Nasst learned that Arza fell under Deminte''s care he went absolutely psycho too... What the fuck?''


    Unconsciously, Evin began to lose himself in his thoughts.


    ''Nasst also probably knows that I sent Arza to Deminte...'' Evin concluded suddenly. It wasn''t something hard to confirm. One would realize it if they just thought about it a bit. But why the man had to grill him so hard for it, Evin didn''t know.


    ''But it''s not like he can really hurt me in any way, so I guess it''s alright?'' Evin thought and realized that he wasn''t really getting anywhere with this string of thoughts. He then threw the matter away from his head.


    In any case, since his break is almost confirmed, he could finally give Sasha the Velvet Contract and then let his family catch up on things. Also, he could bring Arza to the Serpent to see if the boy''spatible with the Beast Lord.


    ''Hmm, maybe I''ll visit Be as well, to see how she''s doing'' Evin thought idly, a little excited to see what happened to the drama in the Earl''s house.


    "But enough of that. Let''s talk some magic. Come to the Test room," Nasst said and beckoned Evin over.

 Chapter 185: Spellbreaking

    Chapter 185: Spellbreaking


    lnside the Test room, Nasst began his exnation.


    "Well, I know that I made this whole thing sound pretty exciting but you should understand that it''s mostly going to be endless practice after you get the basic gist of it all," he smiled wryly.


    "Alright," Evin agreed, even though he dreaded the idea quite a bit.


    ''But since it''s thest thing I''ll be doing before my vacation, I''ll just get it over with as soon as possible'' he thought resolutely. Truthfully, although Evin needed to visit his family and do some other things, he also just wanted a little break before he got back to working.


    ''If I work hard now, I can ck offter. Though I don''t wanna work for four months for Nasst, I''ve if it means cutting 4 months from the one year I need to work for him due to the contract, I''ll just grit my teeth and live through it. If the worstes to be, I can justin about child abuse and ditch the work,'' Evin deluded himself.


    "First of all, we have to have you learn how to handle Time energy to break down spells, so that will be the first on our list of things to do," Nasst said smilingly.


    "By the way, is Time energy going to affect how I age? Should I be worried about that?" Evin asked, reminded of what happened to him after he set off the Time Bomb.


    "Ah, something like that won''t happen if you put the Time energy through your mana-core first, so don''t worry about it. It will only affect you if you expose yourself to foreign time energy But even in those cases, the growth you might feel will be almost negligible," Nasst said, rubbing his chin.


    "Alright."


    "In any case, this might be a bit difficult for you since you''re a logical mage So just think that everything time touches will eventually corrode and die out, and that spells aren''t exempt from that," Nasst gave some advice on Evin''s imagination. He then held out a ball of silver air in front of him and ordered.


    "Try to dispel this ball of air using Time energy."


    Evin didn''t waste time and tried it out. He offered half a kg of mana to the World of Time and received the same amount of Time energy in return. But instead of using it to construct a spell, he just pulled it out of his mana-core and directed it towards the silver air with inordinately ill intentions.


    The Time energy mingled with the silver air a bit and Evin could see it corroding the other away due to its nature, albeit a bit slowly. About ten minutester, Evin saw the silver air dissipating into the air.


    ''It''s a bit slow'' Evin thought in his head.


    "Alright, what could you have done better?" Nasst asked, not hurrying to judge Evin''s absolute garbage Spell Breaking attempt.


    Evin in turn was thinking about how he should improve the thing he just attempted. After mulling over the problem for a little while, he began listing the things he thought of.


    "I guess I should consider this act as a spell of some sorts Give it a proper name, think of how much mana would be needed, and all that stuff. That should make it easier to cast. There''s also the problem of imagination. Obviously, I didn''t really do much of that this time, so I''ll have to try and imagine the process in my head a few times and see what attempt works best. I guess I should have more specific emotions when I''m trying to cast this spell as well, huh?" Evin said.


    Nasst listened and added a few more points as well.


    "Your consumption of mana is a bit too high. You can''t use a single kgs worth of Time energy to dispel a spell that used one kg of mana. You''re using way too much in that case. I rmend you use a little bit to dig away at it, recycle the Time energy a bit. Personally, I think of a beast of some sorts with an endless stomach. It diligently chews at the enemy''s spell until nothing is left," Nasst shared his own method of imagination.


    "Yes" Evin nodded thoughtfully.


    "Well, you can keep at that for the time being. Just create a stationary spell and try to Brute force your way through it with Time energy. I''ll be back after a little while," Nasst said and walked out of the room.


    For the next two hours Evin spent most of his time trying find which form of imagination suited him the best. He first tried Nasst''s method to see how it worked, but after trying it out, he could tell that it just wasn''t for him.


    Then he tried to imagine it as a small disintegratingser, a concentrated ray of Time energy that would dismantle any spell that it touched. Surprisingly, this one showed some promise, since its ability to simply disintegrate spells into oblivion was extremely powerful.


    If Evin used this against a spell that mainly focused on an intricate structure, like a multipart spell of some sorts or his Floating spell, then he was sure that he could break it by simply disintegrating the most important parts of it. For example, he would try to disintegrate his invisible thrusters of his floating spell, or even try to focus the World Switch of the Heavy World. Evin didn''t know how this worked, but it worked so he didn''t dwell on it much longer.


    But one problem that Evin noticed was that this method cost a lot of his willpower and mana for how small of an area-of-effect it had. If he used this method against a spell that was basically just simple mass of energy, like his Dark Room, then the effects were abysmal. It was like trying topletely get rid of a piece of paper using needles. Sure he could probably rip it in half, but in this particr case, said piece of paper could regenerate itself.


    This also made him realize that spells could be ssified into at least two categories as well: structural, where the spell is constructed like a machine, with each and every part serving some kind of purpose; and mass-based, which were just blobs of energy that hurt things or whatever it was called in reality. He decided to ask Nasst about itter.


    In any case, he had to create some kind of new way to use against these mass-based spells. He was currently staring at a small piece of the Dark Room in front of him, wondering how he should get rid of it in the most efficient way possible.


    "Shit, I''m so tired..." he said with a sigh, his brain feeling spent and annoyed. He then yawned widely, and could feel the blood rushing through the veins on his head, filling that pink organ inside his head with some much-needed red.


    Briefly, his vision cked out and immediately came back, leaving Evin wondering where he was and what year he was in, like he had just woken from an afternoon nap. As his head processed what just happened and he could finally tell top from bottom, Evin couldn''t help but feel extremely satisfied.


    "Fuck yeah" he muttered softly, before worrying about what just happened.


    ''If I''m cking out of mental exhaustion at the age of six, it''s probably not a good sign Hmm,'' he thought briefly before entering his shadow.


    Looking around, he saw that nothing much had changed since thest time he checked. Runa had also fallen asleep at some point, but she was just her normally sleeping, so Evin didn''t wish to wake her up.


    ''Weird how literally any kind of animal needs to lose consciousness every day one way or another'' Evin thought amusedly.


    ''I guess the reason why those little ckouts I experience are so satisfying is because they''re kinda like a mini-sleep,'' Evin thought idly, enjoying the serenity and darkness inside his shadow.


    Due to the effects that the Vulpine Mother had on him, Evin always felt at home in the darkness. He''d probably go to great lengths to protect his darkness at this point. As he was enjoying his breaktime, a sudden thought appeared in his mind.

 Chapter 186: A small detour

    Chapter 186: A small detour


    "How would I respond if someone ever decides to disintegrate my shadow?"


    Just because it was rare among mages, it didn''t mean that there wasn''t anyone else who could do the same things he did.


    ''Well, I guess it will turn into a tug of war of some sorts, where I try to save my shadow while the enemy tries to destroy it somehow And I guess whoever''s better at it will win'' Evin thought and was reminded of a certain Dark mage that he heard from the Vulpine Mother.


    ''Relvek was it?''


    It was a mage whose Dark specialty was turning spells into raw mana, which was one form of dispelling a spell. What


    ''But simply turning them back into mana Is a bit underwhelming isn''t it?'' Evin wondered. He often joked about his ''Darkness of Mysterious and Unknown Allies'', but he still took the general subject pretty seriously. And he also wanted a cool feeling specialty as well


    But Relvek''s specialty just didn''t spark that feeling of awe in Evin. But since the man became famous for it, Evin knew that its effects in practice should be pretty powerful. The Empty Knight from the Princess'' time also had a simr ability, one which basically negated all immaterial Worlds.


    ''Maybe it could work?'' Evin thought of something.


    His n was to teach some of the World Sprites in here to eat another''s spells. He didn''t know if it was possible or not, but it wouldn''t hurt to try it. Since his Dark specialty was this weird thing anyway, he could try to work with the cards he had on hand.


    ''I''d guess it would have to happen inside my Dark Room, since they can''t really function so well outside it...'' Evin thought. But he didn''t know if such things would be possible after they develop their souls, so that was one thing he had to look forward to.


    Evin then looked around himself, wondering which of the World Sprites would be willing to eat spells.


    But this was just a passing experiment at best, so Evin still had to think of something else, something more reliable.


    "But isn''t having a World Sprite eat the spell is basically the same as having some kind of imaginary monster eat it, like Nasst said?" Evin blurted out, thinking that maybe he should just give up and think of a goddamn imaginary beast that eats spells.


    ''No mine will suck it all in from the air, like a whale or something, since that seems more efficient in general,'' Evin pondered, thinking of how he should have a spell suck his Dark Room away.


    ''The Dark Room works like a thin veil of darkness that can absorb light very well. But since my eyes can see better in the dark, it just looks like piece of fancy paper dipped in ck ink, so I don''t really feel like it would be something tasty''


    ''Wait, maybe I should just pretend that the paint is clothing paint and my dispelling spell as some sort of bleach? This is getting dumber and dumber by the minute,'' he thought but still went out of his shadow to try it out.


    He recreated a small Dark Room in front of himself and imagined the small amount of Time energy taking on the spiritual nature of a bleach. The amount of mana he used was the same as his disintegratingser. He then willed it to destroy the ck veil and expectantly looked at what was going to happen.


    The effects were confusing, to say the least. Evin could see how his Dark Room became slightly dim at first, before disappearingpletely.


    "What the fuck?" he blurted out and tried this method on another spell, his blue me.


    But this time, the effects weren''t that great. It would probably be the same if Evin imagined a mana-consuming beast.


    ''Wait if imagining Time energy as bleach makes it work well against dark spells, then perhaps I should imagine it as something else for the other Worlds as well?'' Evin thought and imagined Time energy as a fire extinguisher.


    The effects were as he expected. Fire extinguisher Time energy was more effective against Fire.


    "I hate my brain" Evin sighed dejectedly.


    Evin finally understood how casting magic as a logical mage was weird as hell, when one was trying to cast something that didn''t conform to thews of physics well not that greatly, at least. One usually had to make a bunch of random logical jumps to make it work properly. It was like trying trick a child into shutting up without telling the kid to shut up.


    And every mage was different so, what might work for someone else wouldn''t really work for Evin. He just needed to diligently experiment until it worked.


    Evin then went on to find out what worked and what didn''t for all the Worlds, but he soon met a wall. What was he going to imagine when he was trying to dispel a World of Earth spell? Was he going to imagine an earthquake? Water? Paper? No, he would imagine a drill or since that''s cooler and more practical.


    How was he going to deal with the World of Space? What was the weakness of a portal?


    Countless questions started to pop up in Evin''s head and his will to work diligently was being chipped away. And after a certain point he realized:


    "What''s the point of doing this if I can just use another magic to dispel it anyway? It''s not like I can''t put out a fire by getting rid of the air around it using the World of Storms. I''m sure there will be a niche use for it, but it''s not like I always have to use Time energy to break down spells. I feel like I''m tunneling a bit too much here"


    "You know what? Fuck it. I''ll just fucking disintegrate everything in my path, even if it takes me a long time," he decided and worked on trying to make his disintegrating ray of Time energy a bit wider, so it can kill things most efficiently, even though it required a lot more mana.


    He went on a big detour, but Evin wasn''t that dejected. Shit happened. Life was all about wasting time and then realizing you just wasted a lot of time. And besides, it wasn''t like the effort he spent waspletely useless. If he ever had to dispel an enemy''s Dark Room someday, he would have a surefire way to deal with it.


    Some timeter, Nasst came back and asked about Evin''s progress. Nasst heard about it all, trying to stifle hisughter. Evin didn''t mind it, as he found it amusing as well, but what came out of Nasst''s mouth next made Evin want to give up.

 Chapter 187: Armor Made of Laser Beams

    Chapter 187: Armor Made of Laser Beams


    "Now, you have to think of a way to wrap thatyer of defense around your body," Nasst said with a deadpan face.


    "Don''t tell me I also have to keep it around me at all times?" Evin asked, half-jokingly.


    "Precisely so, that''s how we keep ourselves alive, after all," Nasst shrugged like it was the most natural thing.


    Evin just sighed, not quite believing what he was hearing. He did a little calction and realized that a single beam of disintegrating Time beam cost him a 0.2 kg of his 28 kg total. In that case, Evin wasn''t really sure how much mana would be used up in total to cover his whole body. Not to mention the fact that he had to keep it up at all times, which would take up a huge amount of lodestones to achieve.


    "Actually it''s not as hard as you''re imagining it to be. The easiest method would be to simply wear some armor and then cover the more important parts with that beam of yours. Or you could have the beam make a circle around you and it could work as first line of defense of some sorts," Nasst shrugged.


    ''He''s right I don''t have to wear a goddamn hazmat suit made of Time energysers, I can just have it protect my vitals And if I can manage to curve the line and so it''s shaped like a big ring around me, it can cut in half the mass based spells and it can also work as a detector of some sorts'' Evin thought.


    "I''m actually quite impressed that you were able to create something like this. If you can push this method of yours to the limits it can be an ''Absolute'' in the future," Nasst said, stroking his chin.


    "What does that mean?" Evin asked, hearing the new term.


    "Well, as its name implies it''s something that will always do whatever it''s intended to do, no matter what. Hmm, have you ever heard of a Dark mage named Relvek?" Nasst asked.


    "Oh, yes. I''ve actually just been thinking that his Dark specialty is very simr to Spell Breaking," Evin answered.


    "Good, that makes it faster for me to exin. Some feel that his his ability to turn any spell back into mana is a bit underwhelming, but it can be called an ''Absolute''. No matter what kind of spell he uses it on, it will one hundred percent turn into mana. I''ve heard that it can even whittle away at World Domains in certain circumstances. I''m sure you can see why it''s so powerful now, right?" Nasst asked, to which Evin nodded. A hundred percent sess ratio was nothing to scoff at.


    "Your disintegrating ray is pretty powerful, but it can still be countered by other methods. For example, since it''s technically a Time World Spell, I can use raw mana to break it. Or I could just try use the stupidest method: try and overpower it with my vastly superior mana capacity. Most mages would probably opt to use this method," Nasst said with a chuckle.


    "But if it can be something absolute, then it can''t be dealt with no matter what" Evin murmured thoughtfully.


    "Exactly. But let me remind you that even though we call it ''Absolute'', it''s just nigh-impossible to deal with. For example, Relvek will still have to bow down before a World Domain from an Authority," Nasst chuckled.


    "I suppose that''s true," Evin smiled in return.


    "As for how to make something ''Absolute'' Hmm, the best way is to put limits on it. Let''s say someone has an instant death ability, but it can''t work unless they keep in contact with their enemy for more than an hour or they could have an untreatable poison of some sorts, but it won''t work unless the victim performs a specific set of actions."


    It conformed to what Hin told him about making Magical Artifacts, so Evin wasn''tpletely unfamiliar with the concept.


    "I see. Well that''s not something I should be worried about for the time being. About keeping a Time energy barrier around me, is this what you meant about peak half-cores and above having a lot of ways to use up their mana?" Evin asked.


    "Yes. As you grow older, you''ll find countless different methods to keep your mana-core busy. There''s a few other stuff aside from just this, but I can''t really tell you about them now. But if you manage to find something like this, I rmend you to give it a try," Nasst said with a smile.


    "This is also one of the reasons why peak Willpower-based mages are so powerful. After all, they only have to work with one World to work as a defensive mechanism. Sure they''ll toll for quite a bit, which would leave them a bit vulnerable, but they eventually work it out,"


    "Thank you for telling me all this," Evin said with a small nod of gratitude.


    "It''s what I agreed to. In any case, now it''s just up to you to practice and perfect your method. For now, enjoy your 10-day holiday from tomorrow on. Heh, I tried to extend it to 20 days, but Deminte didn''t seem too happy about it, so" Nasst smiled wryly.


    ''Hmm? I really don''t get their rtionship'' Evin thought about Nasst''s over-the-top reaction when he found that Arza was going to study under Deminte. But apparently, he could converse with the woman pretty easily


    ''And they didn''t seem like they werepletely at each other''s throats back in Zorrik''s office as well''


    Evin was a bit curious, but he didn''t wish to get to the bottom of this, so he could only smile and thank the elder man.


    "Oh, can I also ask you about a World?" Evin suddenly remembered how Nasst promised to tell him about a World after he finished learning about gestures.


    "Sure. Which World?"


    "The World of Emotions," Evin answered. After he tried out soul magic for the first time, he could feel its slight connection to the World of Emotions, so his interest in the World was sparked.


    "Oh, that one''s tricky. I don''t really know how it''s supposed to work more than what the average textbook will tell you, but I can tell you about its users. Most think that it''s one of the weaker Worlds out there, but a mage who says that most likely never faced against a Griffin or a proper World of Emotions'' expert. The first time someone like that fights the Southern army led by a Griffin, they would be lying on the floor, with their tears running down their faces, helpless to stop the iing horde of Myrmis from ripping them apart And the worst part is, every one of them have something different or special about them. So, one can''t just mentally prepare themselves for one thing," Nasst began with a frown.


    Evin was a bit disappointed that Nasst couldn''t tell him about casting Emotions spells, but the topic seemed interesting enough, so he didn''t mind and listened attentively.


    "Know that almost always, an Emotions user will be trying to disrupt or make you unstable. They''ll try to guess at your past trauma and then re it up one way or another. So obviously, they are more powerful against some mages than others. Us, Children of the Empress probably perform the worst against them, due to the baggage that is our previous life. But, if you have to fight a Griffin, the best advice I can give you is to try for assassinations," Nasst shrugged.


    "And if I''m forced to fight fairly?"


    "Obviously, it''s not an impossible fight if you have to fight them head on. But one thing you should absolutely avoid is eye contact. It''s okay if they can see your eyes, as long as you don''t meet their gaze head on. But if you somehow fail to avoid it because of some ident and whatnot, then try your best to run away or hide," Nasst rmended.


    Hearing the details, Evin felt it was best if he didn''t try to mess with mages of this World, considering the mess that was his mental health. And at this point he had also developed a subpersonality that was Anna.


    "If you want to learn more, well, I can confidently say that you won''t be able to find much more in this Tribe. Perhaps you can find on in a Tribe that specializes in such things, like the Setral Tribe But because of your origins, you''ll probably have an easier time finding the relevant info in the Academy," Nasst said.


    "Thank you regardless," Evin answered and prepared to leave.


    "Oh, I''ve also just heard that the Somaturgy Expert will being in a month, so I guess you can be excited about that," Nasst smiled.


    "Definitely," Evin replied perfunctorily.

 Chapter 188: Break

    Chapter 188: Break


    "Deminte said that she''ll send Arza here in the morning, so you''ll have the afternoon to prepare, I suppose. I''m guessing you''ll be meeting Rith afterwards?"


    "Yes, we''ll go to town afterwards," Evin answered.


    Nasst looked at Evin with a face that seemed to want to say something, with a slightly mocking smile one his face but in the end didn''t say anything and just waved his handszily.


    ''He''s thinking I''m going to see the pretty coffee shop owner but he has to y dumb since I never told him about the coffee thing and he can''t admit that he''s spying on me,'' Evin thought with amusement.


    A simr interaction happened a few other times and Evin''s mood would turn better every time it happened. Smilingly, he walked towards his room.


    Rith was on his bed, idly reading a book. Seeing Evin, she looked up and lightly bobbed her head.


    "Let''s go see Rhea and then we''ll buy somemunication devices from a shop somewhere," Evin said.


    "What happened?"


    "I''m getting a 10-day break and I''m thinking I should leave amunication device with my family, so we can talk from afar," Evin answered.


    "What about coffee?" Rith immediately asked.


    "Man, you definitely have a problem."


    "I know you''re thinking about it as well," Rith retorted almost immediately.


    "We''ll ask Rhea when we get there," Evin sighed.


    "Well, whatever More importantly, I thought you were the type to not want amunication device, so you don''t have to interact with people, especially your family?" Rith said with a fake puzzled face.


    Evin nced back and asked: "And how do you reach that conclusion?"


    "Well, you seem to hate the concept of honestly talking with them about any problem you face?"


    ''Is she just trying to diss me somehow? Did she get pissed off because I pointed out her addiction to coffee? Is this what it is?''


    "Well, sadly, you''re wrong. I don''t have any issues with talking about my problems. Why you may ask? As you can see, I grew almost two and a half years older in a span of half a year and I''m nning to tell my parents the reason why. Plus of course, Aran and Liza. Their child got caught up in that mess as well, after all," Evin said.


    "But you''re not going to tell them you melted like a candle in the process."


    "I-" Evin said and stopped for a bit, but continued calmly: "At that point, I''d just be wanting the attention by ying victim. Sometimes, the details aren''t that necessary."


    "Whatever you say," Rith shrugged.


    "In any case, we should also see Ssatsko afterwards, to see if he''s able toe along," Evin said.


    At Rhea''s coffee shop, Evin sat silently with Rith, relishing the wary res from the surrounding people. He even felt some hatred in the mix as well. He wondered why and tried to listen to some of the whisperings using the World of Storms, and learned that the reason was his fight against Arza.


    At some point, that fight became a public thing, so apparently everyone was extra scared of him.


    ''Now that I think about it, Arza''s a bit too popr, isn''t he?'' Evin thought idly.


    ''Perhaps it''s because he''s so popr among the kids, their parents automatically learn about his as well?''


    If Evin was a child and he looked up to Arza, he would probably constantly bber on about it to his parents


    ''No wonder he''s so popr''


    ''But why do some of these adults end up idolizing him as well? What''s up with that? Are they that bored?'' He thought and smiled wryly.


    "I feel like I''ll be the reason why this coffee shop won''t be so popr" he then said to Rhea, sighing exaggeratedly.


    Rhea, on the other hand, was just baffled.


    "I''ve literally had seven mene to tell me that you''re a murdering Child of the Empress since yesterday And every one of them would spin a different story. One of them told me that you constantly talk to yourself like a madman. Another told me that you keep living children inside your basement. One even told me that you hunt down women at nights. What the hell do you do in your spare time?"


    Evin chuckled at the news, imagining adult mene to Rhea and snitch on him like that.


    "I''m just as confused as you are. Most of the time I just go home and train, but somehow everyone in this Tribe seems to think I drink the blood of a virgin before sleeping"


    "Why exactly the blood of a virgin?" Rhea asked suspiciously.


    "You don''t have stories about mythical creatures who bathe in the blood of virgin girls to stay young?"


    Rhea looked at him with a ''What the hell is this idiot talking about'' face and answered: "No? Most of the bedtime horror stories I heard include Chaos Creatures and the monsters from the South."


    "Huh? Well, I guess you''re right" Evin murmured, taking a sip from his coffee.


    ''What the hell are bedtime horror stories?'' he then thought with confusion.


    "Oh, Rhea, could you give the two of us twenty cups of coffee? We''ll be leaving to Evin''s hometown tomorrow," Rith said from the side after finishing her milk and coffeebination.


    "Oh, really? But how are you going to store it?" Rhea asked.


    "Well, I''m a Cosmic after all, I have my ways," Rith answered.


    Rhea, as a lower-middle ss citizen, didn''t really think of spatial pockets and whatnot when faced with the problem of storage. Obviously, people with abundant money used the Cosmics'' services all the time, so they were more familiar with the miracles of magic.


    "Oh, well, you can just take the coffee beans and make the coffee yourselves, if you want. Usually we wouldn''t sell them to customers, but Boss said that it was okay if it was you," Rhea said.


    Rith looked at Evin, leaving the decision to him.


    "I''d rather have yours, since I''m so used to it. But make sure you put a lot of love into it, alright?" Evin said with a beaming smile.


    Rhea just shook her head at Evin''s words and went to prepare the cups, though she did look awfully focused when doing it.


    ''Maybe she is putting some love into it,'' Evin thought with satisfaction as he watched the woman work.


    Half an hourter, Rith had neatly stored away everything in her special space. Evin never seen her handle something so carefully. Even when she was interacting with her kittens, she didn''t show the same care and love she showed towards these 20 cups of coffee.


    "Oh, Rith, could you go buy themunication device for me? I''ll go and check on Ssatsko," he then asked.


    Rith didn''t mind and agreed. Now that her job as an observer had ended, she didn''t have to spend every single minute with Evin after all.

 Chapter 189: Ssatskos mystery partner

    Chapter 189: Ssatsko''s mystery partner


    Evin wondered what he should say as he walked inside Ssatsko''s apartment, after a small greeting to the guard. He knew that Ssatsko''s close quarterbat sses happened in the early morning, so as long as he wasn''t out, Evin should find him home.


    Evin knocked on the door and listened for sounds inside to know whether anyone was inside. Weirdly, Evin didn''t hear the usually calm footsteps from inside, but the sounds of stifled panic. Listening closely, Evin could also hear sounds of someone else''s footsteps.


    ''Who''s he getting on with in there, anyway,'' Evin thought with amusement and waited patiently.


    ''And what''s with me always catching people naked or doing something private? That Cobfolk, the instructor, and now even my own grandfather''


    In actuality, Ssatsko wasn''t that old. Probably passing his forties, which was simr to a 50s man on Earth. But that didn''t mean he was old enough to bepletely free from potential rtionships. Now that he thought about Ssatsko''s rtionship, he realized that he never heard about his grandmother from his mother''s side. As for Theor''s parents, they were already dead, unfortunately.


    Half a minuteter, Ssatsko came out from behind the door, prim and proper. Perhaps a bit too formalpared to usual. It was pretty obvious the man was hiding someone inside, since normally, he would almost always invite Evin inside.


    "Sorry, if I''m interrupting something," Evin said sheepishly.


    "No, nothing. At any rate, what brought you here?" Ssatsko asked with a poker face.


    "I just got a 10 day break starting tomorrow. Thought I should go back to town with Arza, so I was wondering if you wanted toe along," Evin asked.


    "Sure, I''d love to. I''ll go ask the headmaster to arrange a recement for me It should be fine since I''ve been covering for this other instructor a few times. When are we going?" Ssatsko replied after thinking a bit. Though when he said the word ''going'', Evin could see him grimace slightly as his eyes briefly darted into his room.


    "Tomorrow morning, at my ce Also, could youe over here for a bit," Evin beckoned Ssatsko closer.


    "Uh, sure," the old man replied and went out, closing the door behind him.


    Evin wanted to grill him about the person inside immediately, but he had something more important to discuss first.


    "Uhh, could you not tell mom and dad about how I melted? I''ll tell them about the Time Bomb, but not the other stuff" Evin asked.


    "Sure, but what about Arza?" Ssatsko asked.


    "Shouldn''t he not know?" Evin asked back, confused. He thought that the boy was unconscious during all that.


    "Ah, I guess you''re right Unless Karan told him about it at some point."


    "I don''t think he would say something like that so to a kid but I''ll ask himter to make sure of it," Evin said with a frown.


    "Well, if you''re finished, I''ll see you tomorrow morning," Ssatsko said and tried to go back inside.


    ''Ah, now I want to tease him a bit What if I insist on getting inside his room?'' Evin snickered inside his head, seeing the old man hurry so much.


    ''Hmm, but I don''t really wanna bully him too much And it''s a bit of a pain, anyway,'' he decided after thinking that ying games like these were a bit of a hassle. But it didn''t mean he wasn''t interested in the subject.


    "By the way, who do you have in your room?" he still asked with a smirk.


    Ssatsko paused abruptly and looked back at Evin, seemingly wondering how he should respond. After a brief struggle he sighed with resignation.


    "I''m sure I don''t have to tell you about it my private life, don''t you think so?" Ssatsko replied in a surprisingly defensive tone.


    "Do you have a teen in there or something? What''s going on?" Evin asked, his curiosity rising. He knew that as a man aged their sexual preferences tended to get younger and younger. He just hoped it didn''t apply to his grandfather. And even if it did, he hoped his grandfather was rational enough to kill it.


    "No-no-no. She''s aged enough. Don''t worry about it. If something more happens, you''ll naturally know about it," Ssatsko said, still defensive.


    ''Who calls a woman aged enough? Does he mean old enough? If that''s so, then it sounds even more suspicious,'' Evin thought.


    "Well, alright. Tell her that she''s wee toe along," Evin replied and turned back towards the exit.


    "Uh, I will. Goodbye," Ssatsko said awkwardly and hurried back inside.


    ''Damn, now I really wanna see who it is,'' Evin cursed in his head. His old stalking habits were ring up. There was literally no way for Ssatsko to stop him from spying if he tried hard enough.


    But with some effort, he was able to rein them in and give his grandfather some privacy. Evin reminded himself that he wasn''t a spirit anymore, so he couldn''t just impose himself upon another person''s life without their permission.


    Walking back to his mansion, Evin wondered who the woman was.


    ''Since he''s saying stuff like something more happening, then it most likely means that they''ve been dating for a long enough time and that he''s rather serious about it.''


    Evin wasn''t worried about Ssatsko''s partner being a teen or worse, the old man didn''t seem to lie about that part. But Evin was pretty confident that the woman was rtively young, perhaps someone around his mother''s age.


    ''Butparing it to Lora''s age is bit weird,'' he thought with a frown.


    Evin''s first guess was that it was someone from Ssatsko''s work, perhaps another instructor for children. As for how they ended up...


    "Is my grandpa adies'' man? He is fairly fit and handsome, now that I think about it. Hmm, I mean, him being good with women is fine and all, but why is he so defensive about it all?" Evin murmured as he walked.


    Well, in the end, even if there was an age gap, it didn''t matter since Ssatsko was healthy enough. Obviously it would be nice if they were the same age, so the woman didn''t have to take care of an aging Ssatsko.


    However, Evin really wasn''t really the right person who could talk about age difference in a rtionship. Evin didn''t know what kind of romance will he be having, but he was pretty sure that his age and his future lover''s age would have a huge difference. It was infinitely more likely that their age would have a three-century gap rather than a few measly decades.


    When Evin was reminded of his own love life, he couldn''t help but frown slightly. On one hand, he was pretty sure it was going to happen suddenly, while on the other hand, Evin was a goddamn seven year old.


    ''Eh, whatever I''ll worry about itter,'' Evin thought idly.


    After he got home, Evin met with Rith, who was idly waiting on his bed.


    "Now that you''re done studying with Nasst, finally, we can focus on the World of Space," Rith said immediately.


    Hearing her serious and serene tone, Evin gathered his stray thoughts and neatly put them away.

 Chapter 190: Personal World

    Chapter 190: Personal World


    "As we''ve discussed before, we''ll start with the upgrade of your shadow. Let''s go inside it," Rith said and jumped into Evin''s hands.


    Evin willed it and the two entered his shadow.


    "Do you think it''s going to be alright if the World Sprites are sleeping like this in the background?" Evin asked.


    "It should be fine, since you said that they were just hibernating. Anyhow, the first problem we must solve is the matter of security. As you know, even though your Shadow Storage is an extremely powerful spell cast on you by the Vulpine Mother, it doesn''t really mean that it''s invincible. If someone capable tries to destroy it with a Spell-Breaking method, then you''re going to have a bad time. So, we will turn this ce into something more than that," Rith smiled as she pulled out something from her storage space.


    Evin looked at the thing she brought out and saw that it was ck metal spiral which took on the shape of a dicone. It had a fairlyrge size and it also had a distinct golden hue.


    "We call this a Dimension Core. They''re also called the Heart of a Dimension by some people. From its name, you can guess that this is basically what gives fake, or lesser dimensions like your shadow a proper life. Theye in many forms, but this one in particr, was specially created for spaces rted to the Dark World, like your shadow here," Rith smiled.


    "Will that make it so that my shadow isn''t a spell anymore?" Evin asked curiously.


    Evin realized that even though it was his shadow, technically, it was something made possible thanks to the Blood of the Vulpine Mother and its will, Enri.


    "Exactly. Although I can''t tell you much more than that, you can just think of it like a personal World that you have for yourself," Rith smiled.


    Evin thought about the implications behind this and couldn''t help but show a puzzled face.


    "Hmm, that sounds pretty disorienting, actually. How big will it be? What can I do with it?" Evin asked.


    "Of course, but I feel like it would be faster if I just told you that your shadow will begin to work in the exact same manner as the main World. First of all, this weird solid dark material under our feet will turn to actual soil, in which you can grow trees and grass. Eventually, you can even have animals and whatnot graze around here. Perhaps you can even buildmunities inside here," Rith exined proudly.


    ''What? Amunity? Who am I gonna keep here?'' Evin thought amusedly, but he had to make something clear.


    "What about sunlight and all the other things necessary for those animals and nts like rain?" Evin asked.


    "You can add something like the Light-infused sorbothium in here so it will not be as dark. As for nutrients and whatnot, those can be mostly reced by mana. I don''t know if you''ve ever thought of this, but what do you think will happen to a nt that''s constantly affected by mana?"


    "They''ll mutate or something?"


    "Oh, no. They''ll just grow better. You''ve heard from Ofi that the Oases in the East work much differently than normal Oases, right? With patches of green, arablend scattered across an otherwise uninhabitable desert. That''s mostly thanks to the fact that the Oasis waters in the desert are extremely rich with mana. At least that''s the most epted way to exin it. You can also just chalk it up to the Empress'' will," Rith shrugged.


    ''Goddamn Empress'' will,'' Evin cursed, hearing the familiar term.


    "And the animals will have a chance to be mana-beasts?" Evin asked, wondering if he could farm rare materials here.


    "Ah, about that. Well, let''s just say that it will depend on your luck, but don''t bet your money on it. Although, you could bring in mana-beasts from outside, but you''ll have to think of what kind of food it will be eating, what kind of environment it would prefer, all those annoying stuff," Rith exined.


    "And how much will these things cost? By the way?" Evin couldn''t help but ask.


    "Oh, a Dimension Core is pretty expensive, now that you mention it. I still don''t understand how the upper echelons agreed to give it to you for free, since even I don''t own one... but don''t really worry about it," Rith said.


    "So, when you put away our horses, aren''t you putting them away into your personal Dimension like this one?" Evin asked.


    "Oh, that''s more of a publicly shared space more than a personal dimention. Every Cosmic has ess to that."


    "Well thanks for telling me all this, but I meant the cost of keeping everything functional," Evin asked his original question.


    "Ah, that will depend on you mostly, so I can''t be sure. If you just want to keep sheep and whatnot inside here, then you can probably just keep them here, since there should be enough grass to keep them alive. But if you want to build a town or something in here, well, I''m sure it would cost a pretty penny," Rith said.


    Evin felt like his ie wasn''t quite high enough to support an entire town, but he couldn''t really concentrate on the fact, since a lot of questions kept popping up inside his head one after another.


    "Uhh, do you know if a resource or something will appear inside this dimension of mine?"


    "Ah, yes. After this ce grows big enough, it will start producing material that has a connection with your magic. So whatever magic you use more, the more likely a material of that nature will appear here... But most of the time it will be raw sorbothium. But in your case, perhaps some raw nyxium and some dark sorbothium can appear as well. Oh, and also, after 11 years, when all of the World''s mana will be used up to create fresh World Cores, a lodestone vein can appear here as well!" Rith said excitedly.


    "Well, that''s much too far away from us. Can you tell me how much it can grow?"


    "In its natural pace, it should grow to the size of Smallwall town in half a year and it will be about half a kilometer or so deep. This is the normal pace, but you can obviously affect it to grow a bit faster, by maybe adding more mana to it, or just manually adding resources," Rith said.


    ''That''s quite a lot...'' Evin thought with excitement.


    "So I just need to keep feeding this Dimension Core mana to keep it working? How much mana will I need for that?"


    "I''ll show you how to solve the problem of mana after we set the dimension up. Now, put this Core on the ground and just keep pouring your mana into it," Rith said.


    Evin shoved the thing into the ground and began to gradually pour mana into it. Eventually, he could feel a tiny connection appearing between him and the Core. It felt simrly to how he felt with his soul-tethered weapon.


    "I''m feeling some link between me and this thing," he said excitedly.

 Chapter 191: Mana Complex

    Chapter 191: Mana Complex


    The Dimension Core then started to glow brightly and Evin could feel the ground shifting slightly. From the point at which Evin stabbed the ground, a small patch of ck soil started to appear and reced the unnatural ck surface.


    When Evin looked closely, he could almost see the soil growing ever so slightly, giving him an indescribable feeling of amusement and excitement.


    But a secondter, it began to demand huge amounts of mana from Evin through the mental link he had created with it.


    "It wants a lot of mana," Evin said, looking at Rith.


    The Cosmic just smiled back and pulled out another huge mechanism from a tear in space, almost thrice as tall as Evin. It was shaped like metal cylindrical capsule of some sorts, with a variety of engravings carved on top of it. In its center, was a glowing blue spiral and when Rith put it down to the ground, a loud thud sounded across Evin''s shadow.


    The tremor seemed to wake Runa up, as the skinshifter''s drowsy thoughts appeared briefly in Evin''s head. She didn''t seem so happy to be woken up like that, and after mumbling something through telepathy, she went silent again. Evin asked her to turn into a spear and go back to sleep. The skinshifter obliged almost unconsciously and turned into a spear on Evin''s hand, before Evin made her float with his Heavy World spell.


    Finished with the babysitting, he turned towards the smiling Rith.


    "What the hell is that?"


    "This is a Mana Complex, one made for Dimension Cores," Rith said, her face grimacing a bit: "One of these things cost about 70 thousand gold to create, so just be grateful that the upper echelons havepletely lost their minds, alright?"


    "What? What does it do?" Evin asked, excited to receive something so expensive for free.


    "You can think of it as an all-in-one system that will take care of all your Dimension''s need for mana. Obviously, you can use it to fuel your spells, but since you already have a Channeling Artifact and a considerable number of lodestones, it''s not that necessary in my opinion," Rith said.


    "How much mana does that equal to in the first ce?" Evin asked, looking at its size.


    "About half a ton, I believe. Which you might think isn''t enough to grow and as big as your town in half a year, but it''s designed specifically for those purposes, so you don''t have to worry about its functionality. Also, these engravings will connect it to a rich-mana source under the Cosmic''s possession, so you don''t have to worry about it sucking all the mana in the air," Rith exined.


    "So there are other Mana Complexes, designed to fuel other things, right?" Evin asked, excited about the idea of huge mechanisms powered on mana.


    "Yes, definitely. For example, many buildings in Tower City use a Mana Complex to function. I can tell about the ones I''m allowed to, but I want to show it to you when we get there. I don''t wanna spoil anything for you, after all," Rith said and smiled meaningfully.


    Evin thought about the giant ck needle he saw through Twelve''s memory and couldn''t help but specte its functions.


    "In any case, straighten the Dimension Core a bit and align the Complex on top of it," Rith asked.


    Evin made the thing weightless and tried to align it perfectly on top of the Core. He didn''t have to try hard, as the two spirals'' ends met and it locked in with clinking sound.


    Through the connection he had with the Core, Evin could feel that its need for mana was being satisfied.


    "Alright, we can leave that thing for the time being. For now, let''s go outside," Rith said, satisfied with the Dimension Core''s performance.


    Evin took Runa in his hands and the three got out of his shadow.


    "How do you people make these things anyway?" Evin suddenly asked, feeling like he had just witnessed a miracle.


    "Well, I can''t really tell you now, can I?" Rith shrugged. She then pulled out a book from inside her storage space dangling it in front of Evin.


    "What''s that?" Evin looked at it curiously, but Rith didn''t seem willing to give him the book just yet.


    "How do you think Space magic is cast? Through willpower or through logic?"


    "Mostly through willpower?" Evin answered. He still felt like the concept of teleportation very unscientific.


    "Wrong. It''s through logic," Rith shot him down immediately and then asked another question: "If it''s cast through logic, then what kind of logical phenomenon should you imagine?"


    "Hmm If I want to get somewhere, I can do so by walking But if I use the World of Space, I can do it instantaneously. After all, it''s almost inevitable that I''ll be getting to my destination," Evin replied unthinkingly.


    "Ugh, take this seriously. At least seriously think a bit before you answer," Rith sighed but still gave him the book: "It''s Mathematics. We do it all using Geometry."


    Evin nced through the book, and sure enough, it was filled with mathematical subjects and problems. Most of them seemed to focus on three-dimensional coordinate geometry, where one had to calcte the distance between things.


    ''Fuck'' Evin thought as he read.


    "You should know that the usage of the World of Space can be extremely rigid and boring. Most of the time, you will be calcting the distance between one portal gate and another inside your head, using the World of Thoughts. Even the methods of imagination are quite linear as well. Unfortunately, that''s the tried and tested method of working with this World, so It is what it is. But first, let''s talk some history," Rith said with a shrug and started her story.


    "In the early 3rd century, the Cosmics still used their willpower to create their portals and gateways but at the same time, the ones who could actually create them without failing once or twice every five tries were few. The reason for these failures were mostly rted to inuracy. After all, most would be only creating these portals through guesswork. If one was just a little bit uncareful, they would easily fail to create a stable portal, leading to the users of the portal arriving at their destination with misaligned organs and sometimes even missing body parts. Obviously, this could be tested by throwing in objects tied with a rope inside the portal first, so the fatalities rarely urred but recasting the portal was a huge waste of money so no one really wanted to do that," Rith said clearly.


    "But in the middle of the 3rd century, one Cosmic found out about mathematics and geometry from some scientist in the East and decided to implement it into his spellcasting. Obviously, it was a blind leap of faith, but the Cosmic was confident in its effects and after messing around with it for a few years, he perfected his new craft. Miraculously, every portal he created never failed, so the method became widespread among the Cosmics in the following few decades. Eventually, the upper echelons decided to make it so that every Cosmic had to learn these methods. Obviously, this extended to the few humanoids who learn from us, like yourself," Rith finished.


    It was nice to hear a bit of history, but Evin was more interested in what came next.

 Chapter 192: Specific imaginations

    Chapter 192: Specific imaginations


    "Well, that''s just a nice piece of backstory. But now, let''s talk about the different uses of the World of Space and its subtypes," Rith said and cleared her voice.


    "As you know, the most widespread use of the World of Space is the creation Storage Spaces. Mages, nobility, merchants, armies, everyone that needs to carryrge amounts of items want a Storage Ring, or Ne for themselves. In its earliest exnations, Storage Spaces were called ''Imaginary Boxes''. Everyone would simply try their best to forcefully imagine the properties of storage devices into various objects, mostly made of Hermium or just Sorbothium infused with Space energy, or Golden Sorbothium, as we like to call it."


    "In fact, to this day, the act of ''imagining'' hadn''t changed much. But now, after countless hours of trial and error, we''ve developed some tricks to increase the chances of it working. Some specific ways of imagination and application," Rith said, and brought out a small golden ring.


    Evin noticed that Rith was using a lot of convoluted words here and there, and frankly he was struggling a bit with it.


    "This is a Sorbothium ring that we use to teach young Cosmics to create their own Storage Space. Take this in your hands and do as I say," Rith said.


    "Alright," Evin replied and perked his ears up.


    "First,pletely fill up your mana-core with Space energy.  Now, shove all of the energy you have into the ring, while thinking of your family Now, take the energy back, and direct it back inside it, but this time, think of your house. Repeat this process a few times, but think of some other personal memory each time you direct the Space Energy into the ring. This will help the ring be familiar with your will." Rith said.


    Evin sat down and focused on bouncing the huge amount of energy between him and the ring. He tried to think of a different thing each time he did it, stuff ranging from the first ever pen he owned to thest person he stalked as a spirit. Around an hour passed as he thought of random subjects in his life. Gradually, he felt his connection with the ring bing stronger and stronger.


    "Alright, it should be enough Now, think of that ring as the house of all those memories, the happy ones, your first times, your special moments," Rith said and Evin obliged. A dozen minutester, Rith''s next instructions came.


    "Now tell the ring that even though it houses all your memories, it can never be the house of your possessions. It will never be actually useful, since memories and emotions aren''t real, and that only gold and material possessions matter." Rith said.


    ''?''


    ''Are we using reverse psychology on this ring? What''s happening?'' Evin briefly thought with amusement, but he faithfully followed Rith''s instructions.


    "No, you have to actually say it with your mouth and be sincere about it," Rith urged from the side.


    ''Is she trying to prank me?'' Evin thought and looked back at Rith''s face, but he could only see sincerity and urgency in it. Finding no evidence of him getting epicly pranked, he could only trust Rith and hope she was serious about this all.


    "Oh, my little ring, you. Although, you''re the house of all my precious memories you will never be the house of my belongings. Didn''t you know? Memories and emotions They''re all useless in the end. Stuff that only serve to remind you of your embarrassing past. Compared to that think about gold and possessions now that''s something actually valuable. Too bad you''re unable to contain those" Evin said in the most sincere tone he could manage, all while looking at Rith, to see whether she was holding back aughter or not.


    But suddenly, the golden ring on his hands started to shine brightly, greedily sucking in the huge amount of Space energy that Evin was juggling. Panicking, Evin tried to fight back, but a shout from Rith stopped him from doing so.


    "Don''t fight it! It''s happening! Recharge your mana-core with Space energy and keep feeding it until it stops!"


    ''Shit, she wasn''t joking!'' Evin thought and focused on keeping his mana-core charged, trying not to overwork it identally.


    For the next twenty minutes, Evin had used up about 130 kgs worth of mana, trying to sate the ring''s hunger, before everything was finally over.


    Weirdly, the ring''s golden hue had disappeared at some point, leaving only a pale-yellow metal. Evin curiously inspected the item, wondering if everything was finished.


    ''Is that all? It just seems like it uses a huge amount of mana'' Evin thought.


    "It''s finished, bring out one of your more important possessions and put it inside it," Rith said.


    Evin did as the Cosmic instructed, and brought out his Soul-tethered spear from inside his shadow. He then tried to ess the ring he made, like he would a normal Storage Ring and was allowed ess inside it.


    As Evin''s consciousness nced inside it, he found that the Space he had created was rather small. Compared to the one he bought from Rith it was probably a fifth of its size. But it was his first time creating something of his own, so he was quite satisfied.


    "As expected, a user of World Sprites really do have it easy," Rithmented from the side.


    "What do you mean?" Evin asked curiously.


    "Usually, it takes a day or so for it to develop a wisp of consciousness."


    "Wait, this thing''s alive?" Evin gasped, all sorts of usatory thoughts filling his head.


    "No. At this point, it''s just a dead object. But when you were interacting with it like you would with a conscious being, it briefly gave birth to a World of Space Sprite. Those things are mischievous beings, who would do most likely do everything opposite of what you want. Thankfully they''re dumb as bricks so when you started talking about the ring not being a proper container of your possessions, its stubborn bone took over and created a Storage Ring. But since it doesn''t have a Beast Lord totch onto, it disappeared and turned back into mana," Rith exined.


    "Wait, you can just create World Sprites like that?" Evin asked. If this was true, then couldn''t he mass produce Dark World Sprites somehow?


    "If you''re thinking of creating a bunch of Dark World Sprites, you can definitely try, but it will only work if you''re around the Vulpine Mother, or another Beast Lord of the Dark World. But in that case, I''m sure that they''d rather stay together with them, instead of you," Rith reminded with a mocking smile.


    Evin was a bit disappointed, but he still decided to try it out when he had the chance.


    "And you also said that it usually takes days to get it to work," Evin asked, suddenly remembering Rith''s casual remarks about the thing.


    "Ah, yes. Usually it takes about that long. But I''ve heard that owners of World Sprites have it easier for whatever reason. Though, I didn''t think it would be this fast" Rith replied with a slightly threatening smile.


    "Well, at least you won''t have to watch me juggle a huge amount of mana back and forth for such a long time, right?" Evinughed awkwardly in response.


    "Hmm, whatever. Let''s get to talking about portals next," Rith shrugged.

 Chapter 193: Portals

    Chapter 193: Portals


    "Alright," Evin said.


    "Portals can be generally divided into three types:bat portals, material portals and energy portals. Combat portals are self-exnatory, material portals are for teleporting physical objects and also people, and energy portals are mostly used to transport energy. An example would be engravings that transport mana to your Mana Complex. I won''t teach you all of them at the same time so you''ll have to spend some time learning one of them before I decide whether to teach you one of the other two. We''ll start withbat and work our way up since those are the easiest."


    "Okay," Evin replied simply.


    "Let''s see As you''ve seen before,bat portals are the main method of offense and defense for Cosmics. The portals I used to cut at people and the portal armor that I can create, they''re all ssified as Combat portals, but let''s first start with offensive ones," Rith began.


    "What''s the difference between a transportation portal and abat one?" Evin asked.


    "One cuts with its insides, while the other doesn''t. You can decide which it does through your will," the Cosmic answered.


    ording to Rith, Combat portals were widely recognized as the form of magic that were the sharpest in the World. But obviously, there were some limitations to this. The first thing Evin learned was that portals had to alwayse in a pairs. There simply couldn''t be a portal that existed by itself, without a destination that it lead to.


    But when one was using them offensively, the other side of the portal that was trying to cut someone wasn''t as important. Evin could simply designate a ce and condition himself in such a way that he would never fail that portal.


    Rith stated that the best ce for the other end of such portals would be the inside of a Storage Dimension of some sorts that the caster owned. She exined that when she casts offensive portals, she always creates the other end inside her storage ring. By doing that, if she manages to cut off someone''s hands, the lost limb would end up in Rith''s possession and the chances of the enemy finding their arms and reattaching them through the World of Life would be nil.


    This was another reason why the Easterners never performed well against the Cosmics. The Cosmic portals ignored their invulnerability and also greatly weakened their healing properties. Though it didn''t nullify it, since the more talented Easterners could regrow their lost limbs with some effort.


    At any rate, it was vital for Evin to have a simr spot for himself. He decided that it should be the inside of the new Storage Ring he created, as it was the only logical choice. The other Storage Ring he had contained most of his possessions, and he didn''t want to turn his shadow into a ce that asionally spawned heads and limbs.


    The next thing he learned was that portals had two sides to them. Its inner side and its outer side. Its inner side was the one that teleported things, while the outer side was its edge that bordered the rest of the World.


    Apparently, the outer side couldn''t cut at all and only the inner side was sharp enough to do so So if Evin wanted to use the World of Space to rip off someone''s hand for example, he had to somehow have their hands go through a portal first and close it afterwards. He couldn''t just throw a portal against his enemies like it was a disc, hoping that it could kill them.


    Evin felt like it was a bit annoying to calcte the distance between yourself and your enemy while casting portals, but Rith exined that when one was trying to kill someone with a portal, it''s precision and cleanliness wasn''t that important. It was actually more effective to have deficient portals, since by just having it wrap around his enemies, Evin could misalign their bodies in some way or another.


    "Now, before I start teaching you specific methods of imagination, try to create a portal by yourself. Who knows? Maybe you''ll be talented enough to seed with some effort," Rith said.


    Evin was a bit wary, since he never bothered to try and create one, but he still tried his best to create a doorway between the space inside his new storage ring and two steps in front of him. He imagined a magical doorway that connected the two ces, one with the ability to let an object phase through it.


    But try as he could, Evin simply wasn''t able to create something. There wasn''t even a sizzle or a fumble. Evin didn''t know if this was normal or not, but since Rith didn''tment in any shape or form, he kept on going, trying other forms of imagination, hoping one of them worked. He then changed his approach and tried to create a portal between himself and some other ce in his vision, properly calcting the distance between the two points, but still, nothing seemed to work.


    After about an hour of absolutely nothing, Evin was beginning to lose his patience.


    "Perhaps I''m not talented enough at this?" he asked Rith.


    "Hmm You''re not doing badly, actually. Obviously, it''s a new subject to you, so it''s natural that you wouldn''t seed in the first hour. I''ll give it another few days. Sometimes, these things just take some time and practice," Rith reassured him.


    ''You''re so nice But it''s okay to just tell me that I suck. I won''t kill myself or anything,'' Evin thought dramatically in his head.


    "Is it better if I find my own method of imagination?" Evin asked.


    "Well, I can''t tell for sure. You started to do well near the end of it, when you were trying to create two portals in front of yourself. Why was that?"


    "I don''t really know if I was doing alright, or not but I tried to think of the distance between two objects mathematically, using myself as the center of the coordinate... like the book instructed me to. Hmm, perhaps I''m struggling a bit, since the inside of the Storage Ring is in apletely different dimension, so it''s hard for me to imagine the distance between it and a spot in the main World?" Evin asked.


    "In that case, just focus on getting the math correct. Eventually you''ll seed.... Sigh, but seriously, how can you be such a logic-based mage, through and through?" Rith shook her head and continued: "Alright, since you''re not really finding sess with this, let''s take a break and then go to some other theoretical stuff,"


    Rith said and the two had a small snack break. Twenty minutester, the two sat down and started to talk about defensive uses of the World of Space.


    "Nasst should''ve told you how to always keep some kind of defensive measure passively, right? Is it Time energy?"


    "Yes, though I''m struggling a bit to keep it up, so I probably have to rely on Runa for defense."


    "That''s fine as well, but remember to keep working on your passive defenses diligently. Not everyone gets to use Time energy like you, after all. But anyhow, my portal armor could also be considered a form of passive defense. How do you think I keep those portals up, while moving about normally?" Rith asked.


    "I''m guessing you designate yourself as the center of a three-dimensional coordinate and make it so that the portal armor stays a certain distance away from you," Evin answered.


    "That''s right. One thing you could get used to if you want to use the World of Space, is to consider yourself the center of the universe. If you want to create a portal two steps in front of yourself, you must calcte the exact distance between you and the portal you''re trying to create. If you want to create a portal that moves, you must think of how it will move rtive to you. You have to imagine them as your own orbits, I suppose," Rith said.


    "When do you think I''ll be able to create a Portal Armor like yourself?" Evin asked curiously.


    "I''m not sure. Perhaps when you be a lesser-imposer. Hmm, I''ll tell you some more stuff after we see how you perform Combat portals. Just remembter that Material portals are a more polished and non-deadly form of Combat portals. You might take some time to wrap your head around Energy portals as well, but if all else fails, we''ll just have to memorize specific imagination methods. For now, let''s prepare a bit for tomorrow. Uh, do you have any questions?" Rith asked.


    "I''ve heard that most mages are unable to work the World of Space so easily, why is that? I mean, if you just taught them to imagine things in a specific way shouldn''t every one of them learn these things over time?" Evin asked.


    "Hmm, I''d like to tell you that there''s something deep behind people''s improficiencies, but at the end of the day, it''s just that. First, they couldck talent, where even if we tell them what to imagine scene by scene, they could still fail to create something substantial. And second, they couldck the willingness to invest their free time into the World of Space. For example, you can start drawing from tomorrow on with the goal to be one of the best artists in the World, so that you can maybe sell your art for money. But after trying out some drawings, you realize that your talent at arts is abysmal. Will you decide to spend thousands of hours practicing your art skills, or will you give up on this goal of yours and start focusing on whatever you''re good at?" Rith asked.


    "But I''m really good at painting, though," Evinined yfully.


    "Shut up," Rith replied almost immediately, before continuing: "You get what I''m saying. Just because a mage could dedicate their efforts to learning the World of Space, it doesn''t mean they should. Same thing with a non-mage bing an artist or a singer."


    Evin nodded and the two ended their lecture and started to prepare for the journey tomorrow.


    Thoguh, there wasn''t much for them to prepare, since they could shove them all to their storage rings, so they were finished with their task quite fast.


    Evin would also asionally enter his shadow to see how the patch of ck soil was growing, smiling to himself like an idiot everytime he felt like it became bigger.

 Chapter 194: Homecoming

    Chapter 194: Homing


    The next morning, Evin was waiting for Arza and Ssatsko toe to the mansion, wondering what the hell was Nasst and Deminte''s problem.


    ''He seemed extremely angry when he found out that I set up Arza to study under Deminte, but apparently, the two are close enough to do things like these'' he thought with confusion.


    He really couldn''t understand why Nasst would turn so mental for a moment there.


    But, he couldn''t really think further of the matter, since Arza appeared on the other side of the street with Ssatsko, with the old man holding some of his belongings in his hands, a glossy expression on his face. Evin smirked slightly, reminded of the previous day''s events.


    "Oh, they''vee. I''ll call Abe," Rith said from the side and took on a golden hue.


    Evin went to open the door for the two and let them inside his room.


    "Hey," Evin greeted and he started asking Arza about what happened with Deminte.


    "So, what happened with the olddy?"


    "It went much better than what you expected. We created a Contract, where she promised to teach me everything she was allowed to, while I just have to diligently practice it," Arza replied.


    Hearing the answer, Evin was a bit concerned. Doesn''t that mean that Arza has to faithfully perform anything that Deminte asks of him?


    "Hmm, is she trying to brainwash you or something? I mean, uhh, could you let me talk to Karan for a bit?" Evin asked to which Arza just nodded and gave Evin the short-sword on his waist.


    [Hey, Karan, long time no see, huh?] Evin greeted. He realized that he really didn''t find many opportunities to talk with Karan as ofte.


    [You seem to be neglecting me a bit, but I''ll let it slide since I don''t have to deal with your bullshit anymore, ahahah,] Karanughed in response.


    [So, what''s this talk about Arza having to diligently follow Deminte''s instructions?] Evin asked.


    [Yeah, about that, I''ve been pretty wary about that as well, but I''m getting the feeling that it''s legit as ofte,] Karan said and started describing what Deminte was teaching Arza. Hearing about the True Path, Evin rxed a little. And from what he could understand, most of the time, Deminte was just focusing on strengthening Arza''s mana-core.


    [I''ve heard about the True Path from Nasst as well. At any rate, seems like there''s not much trouble for the time being But should I try to keep touch with you, so you can tell me if something''s wrong?] Evin asked, just in case.


    [We''ll see what happens,] Karan said calmly.


    [Oh and also, did you tell Arza about what happened to me... with the fight against the Lesser-imposer?] Evin asked.


    [What? No, of course not,] Karan replied.


    [Alright, then all''s good,] Evin let out a sigh of relief.


    [What? You decided to keep it secret from your family? What a you thing to do...]


    [Aw, bug off. You know it''s best that they don''t know it.]


    [I guess you''re right,] Karan''s sigh echoed in Evin''s head.


    Evin couldn''t help but notice that the Skinshifter''s swearing had lessened significantly after spending some time with Arza.


    ''Feels like he would be a pretty responsible parent, now that I think about it'' Evin thought with amusement and gave Karan back to Arza.


    Rith on the side, had finished calling her brother, and was ready to create the portal to Smallwall town.


    "Long time no see, Evin," Abe greeted and before Evin was able to respond, he continued with a smile: "This trip of yours will cost you 60 Gold, 76 silver and 7 bronze. You don''t mind if I take it from your next payment, right?"


    "Specific as always Do as you wish," Evin replied with an annoyed smile. Now, he knew how greatly these Cosmics charged their customers. The amount of lodestones needed for a trip of that size should be only a hundred or so, which should replenish itself over two weeks, a month at most.


    But unfortunately, the non-mage poption really didn''t know anything rted to magic, so they could only grit their teeth and pay the costs. Obviously, the mages also had to bear the same price, since the Cosmics would just say that most of the price was for their service. But, Evin wasn''t that mad, since he was sure that he would probably do the same if he was in their shoes. And besides, he nned to do the same to them, after all.


    ''Next time I sell something to you, I''ll definitely sell it hard,'' Evin thought gleefully.


    And then, when the two started to cast the spell for the portal, Evin did his best to catch every little detail possible, since he was struggling with the same magic. He tried his best to create one the previous day, but he just couldn''t get it to work. But since there was a live example right in front of him, he didn''t want to miss it.


    As the tear in space appeared, a strong shockwave seemed to materialize out of it, pushing Evin and the others away from itself slightly.


    ''I don''t think there was such a reaction when Rith created the portal from the City of Smog to the Ekhri tribe,'' Evin wondered.


    Now that Evin was focused on the process, he could see a few details that he missed before: how symmetrical the portal was, how a fuzzy silhouette of their destination appeared on the inside of the portal, how the edge of the portal looked very wavy and blurry, and how it emitted some sort of golden mist around it. Evin wasn''t worried if this was actually helpful or not. At least he could imagine the exact same image if all else failed.


    One thing he also noticed was how focused Abe and Rith was on the process. It felt to Evin that maybe Rith was actually having anxer time with the process, perhaps due to the gift she received from Kena. But after the portal came to life, the two made a rxed expression and nodded slightly to each other.


    "Alright, everything''s finished," Abe said and the group walked inside one after another.


    On the other side, the air was hotter and a bit more humid. Weirdly, the sun''s location in the sky almost didn''t change at all, even though the group had just teleported a huge distance. This discrepancy caught Evin''s attention, but he didn''t dawdle on it for long.


    On the side, Ssatsko and Arza seemed to be having some trouble. Evin looked at Rith, but the Cosmic just shrugged.


    "It''s just PT disorientation, or post-teleportation disorientation. It''ll pass," she said.


    Abe hadn''t appeared on the other side, so it was only the original group.


    [Is this Big Brother''s home?] Runa''s voice appeared inside his head.


    [Yep, you''ll get to see my family as well,] Evin replied absentmindedly.


    [Are we not your family?] Runa asked back with a confused tone.


    [You probably don''t know this, but big brother has three families at this point. So don''t be too jealous, alright?] Evin replied.


    [So if it''s us, then this one... where''s the other family?] Runa asked curiously.


    [They''ve already passed away. But if I''m correct, they should have reincarnated as other people, and living their lives peacefully now,] Evin replied.


    [What does pass away mean?]


    [It means they die, you know about that, don''t you?] Evin asked, remembering that he''d exined the concept to Runa at some point.


    [Oh... I''m sorry,] Runa replied, just like how Evin and Rith taught her.


    [It''s alright. Big brother doesn''t mind it much at this point,] Evinughed and the group started to walk towards the city gates after Arza and Ssatsko felt better..

 Chapter 195: Reunion

    Chapter 195: Reunion


    The group first went towards Aran''s house to drop Arza off.


    "We''ll be leaving in ten days, but we have something to show you while we''re here," Evin started: "We''lle back for you the day after tomorrow, so be ready for a little hike, alright?"


    "Sure," Arza replied, not even bothering to ask what for. Evin, who wanted to tease him a bit for it, was a bit disappointed, but since it was going to be a surprise anyway, he wasn''t really going to dwell on it.


    Then they went to knock on Aran''s door.


    A few secondster, sounds of footsteps came from inside and Liza opened the door. Evin could see the confusion in her eyes, seeing her four-year-old child looking like he was almost 10, even though he''d left for only half a year. But, in the end, she seemed to realize that it was her child.


    "Arza?!" she bellowed and hugged her child.


    "I''m home, mom," Arza said from inside her mother''s hands and hugged her back.


    Evin, looking at what was happening, couldn''t help but feel a bit giddy. But he needed to exin some stuff to Liza, so he had to focus up.


    "What happened to you?" Liza then asked, looking more closely at her child.


    "I''m sorry, Liza, something happened and the three of us became two years older," Evin said, trying his best to avoid saying anything more.


    "Two years? But Arza looks like he''s almost 10!" Liza shouted.


    "He definitely aged for two years, it''s just that Arza grows a bit fast," Rith said from the side: "Normally, he''d be as tall as Evin is."


    "Why are you shouting, mom? It''s just two years," Arza said as well. The boy obviously didn''t care for such details.


    It took a bit for Liza to digest the information and she apologized.


    "Sorry for shouting, love. It''s just a bit weird to wrap my head around. After all, you''ve only been gone for half a year after all"


    "Don''t worry, mom. I''m a lot strongerpared to that time. I''m probably even stronger than dad," Arzaughed loudly.


    "Sure you are, dear," Liza smiled and coddled Arza.


    "Speaking of the man, where is Aran?" Evin asked.


    "He''sing back from the South. Should be here in the next few days, I think. Hehe, wonder how he''ll react when he sees you like this?" Liza answered Evin, but inevitably, her attention was drawn back to Arza.


    "We''ll be here for ten days and the day after tomorrow, we have to go to the forest for something. But for the time being, we''ll leave you to catch up," Evin smiled.


    "Only ten days? Are you on a vacation? But why is the timing so weird?" Liza asked, dissatisfied with just having ten days to spend with Arza.


    "We both learn under private instructors, so normal vacations don''t apply to us, sadly," Evin exined.


    "Alright, then I won''t keep you three here. I''m sure Lora and the others will be overjoyed to see you," Liza said and saw them off.


    Evin and the other two walked through the empty streets, asionally meeting people who would recognize and greet them. Evin had almost forgotten every one of them, leaving him wondering where he had seen them.


    "That worked rather well," Rithmented from the side, thinking of Liza''s reaction.


    "Well, it''s not like the woman has any other choice other than epting it, heheh. Our n to turn Arza old enough so he doesn''t bother us was a sess," Evinughed dryly and received a vindictive re from Ssatsko and Rith.


    "What? It''s the truth. Or is it too soon to joke about it?" Evin protested.


    "It''s probably alright, but your joke has nothing funny in it and you''re unironically serious about it," Ssatsko said.


    "Yeah, it''s like how someone says they have a dark sense if humor, but all they do is make racist remarks," Rith added.


    "Whatever. By the way, what happened to the woman you were meeting. I thought you were going to bring her along," Evin asked suddenly.


    "What woman?" Rith asked, eyes sparkling.


    "Ugh, she''s a coworker in the tribe. Don''t worry about it," Ssatsko said, still defensive for whatever reason.


    "I''m pretty sure I interrupted a special moment there, but I really didn''t mean to. I''m sorry about that. Anyway, are you two considering marriage?"


    Ssatsko paused a bit after hearing about marriage.


    "Wow, you''re actually very serious about her," Evin said with some shock. Usually, non-serious people denied marriage almost instantly when they were asked about the topic suddenly.


    "What? When did this happen?" Rith was on the side, trying to piece together everything.


    "I''ll tell youter when I sort everything out," Ssatsko said impassively.


    ''Seriously, why is he being so shy?'' Evinined in his head.


    Rith pestered him from the side to tell her some details and Evin exined everything in the most concise manner he could manage.


    In any case, the group soon neared Evin''s home, as they could start smelling the distinct scent of the bakery. A nostalgic feeling took over Evin, as he remembered waking up to this smell every morning, craving a cake and some buns.


    "They seem to be doing really well, and the smell is great advertising," Rith mentioned from the side, noticing that a number of people were lining up in front of the bakery''s gates. If Evin wasn''t wrong, there were even some servants of 1st grade citizens in the mix.


    "Alright, here''s some of the new stuff ya''ll been wanting. Tell me what you want for tomorrow and we''ll prepare it for ya''ll," Theor''s muffledugh came from inside the house. Evin activated his eagle eyes and could see Lora and Elina in the bakery as well. Only Sasha was missing, but Evin was sure she was just sleeping in her room. After all, it was pretty early in the morning.


    [Is that your family?] Runa asked.


    [Yep. Wait, you can see them from this distance?] Evin asked. Without his eagle vision, he wouldn''t even be able to see the inside of the bakery, since it was too dark.


    [Yeah, if I try hard enough,] Runa answered.


    [That''s very impressive,] Evin replied, wondering if it was something special to skinshifters.


    Runa giggled happily and asked: [Are we going to meet them now?]


    [Hmm, not yet, since there are so many people... But don''t worry about it.]

 Chapter 196: A problem of emotions

    Chapter 196: A problem of emotions


    Evin didn''t want to deal with a crowd of people, so he took a little detour and silently appeared on the house''s backdoor. He opened the door by unlocking the lock from the inside like he always did and entered. He then disabled the security measures inside the house and he entered his house without much fuss.


    The two others also seemed happy enough to y along, since Rith usually followed along what Evin was doing and Ssatsko was also someone who didn''t like the crowds. It was almost magical how in sync they were.


    The three then silently entered Evin''s makeshift test room and closed the door behind them. This room seemed to be cleaned quite recently, as the smell of wet wood came from the floor.


    "I''ve never thought one could actually just get in like this without making a fuss," Ssatsko said from the side, weirdly excited at this new prospect of sneaking into his own house after a long trip. The room was nigh soundproof, so as long as they didn''t start shouting at each other, no one would notice them talking.


    "I''m guessing the crowd would die out after a few hours. Let''s just wait till that happens," Evin said and sat onto his couch and started looking around his room, feeling nostalgic.


    "You two are such weirdos. Don''t you at least feel exciteding home after such a long time?" Rith shook her head.


    "Hey, you''re in this too. And besides, just imagine us walking towards the bakery and everyone''s eyes falling on us. Theor and Lora would probably run to give me a hug, and then I''d have to exin why I became so tall in such a short time. All with a bunch of random people looking at us, with varying emotions," Evin exined.


    "But Theor will still dere to the whole town that you''vee back anyway. He''ll probably put a discount on his food just to tell more people." Rith giggled, remembering Theor''s big mouth.


    "Yeah, but I won''t be there to witness it, so it''s alright. Probably," Evin sighed.


    "Alright, whatever What are we going to do if the crowd doesn''t disappear?"


    "I think they''re trying out an order-based sales system," Evin said.


    "So they would gather orders for the next day and bake only the ordered things?" Rith asked.


    "Yep. So I''m pretty sure everyone will leave after a bit."


    The three sat down and waited for the crowd to disperse, each doing their own thing. Evin was mostly chatting with Runa, as the skinshifter asked about stuff about the room and the house. Half an hour passed and Evin could hear the noise die out.


    "Now what? Do we sneak out again ande from the front?" Rith asked.


    "That would be a bit awkward And it''s not like we can just pop out from inside our room. Hmm You know what? Portal us out of here," Evin said.


    Rith held her paws to her face and sighed loudly.


    "Are you serious?"


    "Just say we appeared here," Ssatsko said from the side.


    "No, but they''re gonna ask where Arza is and we can''t just tell them we portaled him to his house. What would happen if they ask Lizater and find out? That would be too embarrassing. Just portal us out and we''ll walk through the front door," Evin said tly.


    "I can''t believe you''re actually serious You know what? No. I''m not doing this," Rith said stubbornly.


    "By the Empress'' tits, you''re such an annoying Cosmic. Ugh, just get inside my shadow, I''ll sneak us out of here," Evin said and shoved Rith and Ssatsko into his newly forming Personal Dimension.


    After a minute, he materialized on the streets, careful to avoid anyone''s eyes. Rith and Ssatsko appeared next to him promptly, one grumbling incoherently under her breath and the other holding back hisughter.


    "Alright, let''s go," Evin dered gleefully and happily headed towards the bakery. He tried to open the door and walk inside, but found that the door was actually locked.


    ''What the fuck?'' Evin thought and began knocking.


    "Please tell us your name and order through the backdoor!" Theor''s annoyed voice came from inside.


    Evin''s eyebrows twitched and he shouted back: "Dad, it''s me, please open the door!"


    Theor''s footstep sounded from inside, and the man''s face appeared on the window next to the bakery. Confirming that it was actually Evin, Theor hurriedly opened the door and gave Evin a big hug.


    ''I can''t believe he still hugs me even though he knows I''m much older than him,'' Evin thought, but didn''t shy away. He felt happy, even.


    "Is it just me or had three years passed already?" Theor asked with shock.


    "I''ll exin itter. For now, let''s get inside," Evin said smilingly.


    "Evin?" Lora''s asked with a confused voice, which was followed by Elina.


    "Something magical happened and I''ve grown two years in a very short time. Sadly, that''s all I can tell you for now," Evin exined as concisely as he could.


    "Can something like that happen? Then does that mean you can be younger as well?" Lora asked.


    "Sadly, no. You can only be older through this method. Though maybe if you were as strong as the Empress, you could do something simr," Evin shrugged.


    He was d that everyone took the news rtively calmly. He didn''t know that his family was used to the asional mysteries that urred when raising a mage. Not to mention Evin was one of the worse cases with his steady stream of miracles.


    "In any case, why have youe so early?" Theor asked.


    "Ah, I''m taking a small break. Only ten days, though. After that I''ll need to go back to the Tribe I''m studying in."


    The family started to catch up and Evin started to tell them the things that he was allowed to disclose. Mostly through the guidance of the Oaths.


    Soon after, Sasha woke up due to all the fuss and told everyone to be quiet. Theor and Lora exined that Evin hade back, and Evin could see a tinge of jealousy spark in her eyes as the silver horned girl looked at him.


    "Why is he suddenly so big?" Sasha asked, looking weirdly at Evin.


    "Give your brother a hug, Sasha," Theor urged from the side, but the girl seemed a bit unwilling.


    ''I guess it''s time to have <em>that</em> talk with her...'' Evin thought in his head.

 Chapter 197: Things

    Chapter 197: Things


    "It''s alright," Evin told his parents and said to Sasha: "Sorry for waking you up."


    Sasha nodded slightly and went to the bathroom. Evin looked at the others'' reactions and found his parents frowning, while only Elina had a slightly concerned expression.


    "She''s a bit grumpy in the mornings," Lora exined in a hush.


    "Don''t worry about it," Theor said.


    Evin really didn''t know why they thought that he would be offended by Sasha.


    "Do you brag about me a lot to her?" Evin asked. He really didn''t want to leave this problem to fester.


    "I really don''t think so Right, Lora?" Theor said after a slight pause.


    "Hmm," Lora nodded lightly as well.


    "What do you think, Elina?" Evin asked.


    "I''m not so sure," the girl answered shyly.


    "You don''t have to be shy with us, you know? Even if you feel like you''re being rude, I''m sure no one here would mind it," Evin urged.


    "Yeah, you know we won''t a few harsh words,"


    "They don''t talk about it a lot, but when they do, Sasha''s mood seems to sour greatly," Elina finally answered in a small voice.


    The previously shy and silent Elina seemed to be disappearing gradually. Evin was sure that the old one would probably hesitate much longer to speak up like this and he would probably have to talk with her alone to get anything out of her.


    "See? Keep it down. Sasha''s still young, so obviously she would feel wronged if her parents fawn over the other sibling all the time," Evin reprimanded.


    In any case, the problem was as Evin expected. It wasn''t often that someone would notice their own mistakes, especially when they didn''t feel like they were doing something wrong. On the other hand, a bystander like Elina was much more likely to see these things.


    "But I really don''t think we treat you two so differently. We properly encourage everything she does, and we try our best to give her the freedom to do what she wants." Lora protested.


    "Well, that doesn''t mean Sasha would see it in the same light. When I hate someone else, everything they do seem shitty and I can''t help but feel like criticizing them. Sasha probably thinks of your encouragement and respect as something pretentious. Something that you do only because you two don''t want to look like hypocrites," Evin exined in a hush, making sure that Sasha wasn''t eavesdropping.


    "Why does she have to think something soplicated? She should know better than that," Theor harrumphed.


    "Ah, don''t worry about it. I''ll talk to herter. In the worst case scenario, she should at least listen to Ssatsko," Evin said and the old man nodded from the side.


    A day passed as Evin enjoyed his alone time. Rith encouraged him to practice some more before she started to spend time with her kittens and ckspot, but Evin just wasn''t in the mood for that. He would rather lie around doing nothing, instead of practicing anything rted to magic. He also wanted to sleep till noon just for the heck of it, but sadly, he couldn''t defeat his sleeping routine so easily. He still woke up at seven and diligently practiced his Authority Style.


    But he wasn''t the earliest to rise, since Theor and Lora would already be up three hours prior, to prepare the dough for the bakery. Currently, they were taking a break after selling the previous day''s orders. Runa was also sleeping in his shadow, making Evin wonder if she was about to split into two, like Karan.


    But Evin didn''t want to bepletely useless. He reckoned that he should at least do what he could do while he was here, and the problem with Sasha was one of those. He was currently sitting outside Sasha''s room, waiting for the girl to wake up.


    The previous day went on without much incident, the family had a little celebratory dinner and everyone had a good time.


    He learned that not a lot had happened in this past half a year while he was away. Lora and Theor seemed a bit unwilling to try for a new child, while Elina was still afraid of most men. Evin told her to marry a woman, but everyone seemed a bit unused to the idea and just took it as a joke. Evin guessed that something like that wasn''t very orthodox in this day and age, so he didn''t push the idea too hard.


    Evin then gave them themunication device and exined how to use them. Rith had bought a magical device, which cost about only 20 gold. The device came in two pairs of tablets and whatever was written on one tablet would appear on the other. It was basically just a walkie-talkie but for texting and with unlimited range.


    Evin set it up in his house performed a small demonstration for how it worked and gave them some lodestones so the device didn''t stop working.


    During all this, Evin would asionally look at Sasha to see how she reacted to things, and managed to conclude some things. He also noticed that Lora and Theor were much more observant after the conversations as well.


    At any rate, the girl obviously knew that Evin was a Child of the Empress and what it meant to be one. She would look at Evin with wariness and when she saw Lora or Theor being intimate with him, a clear hint of disgust would briefly be apparent on her face. She tried her best to not use any of the things that Evin bought as well. This made Evin realize that Sasha didn''t know that Evin told his parents about his past and that he was just pretending to be some kind of miracle child.


    Evin didn''t know where she learned about it all, but that really wasn''t important. And it wasn''t like Evin wanted to keep it a secret, so it actually saved him the bother of exining it to Sasha.


    And besides, Sasha was old and keen enough for Evin to be direct. Even though she wasn''t a mage, who was naturally smarter and mature than non-mages, she had a silver horn. This fact made it so that she was unable to be dumb, even if she wanted to.


    As Evin was thinking about what to say to Sasha, some noise came from her room and Evin hurriedly fixed his appearance. A secondter, Sasha came out of the room, still groggy and grouchy.


    "Good morning," Evin greeted with an awfully polite tone.


    "Hello," Sasha replied back, simrly dispassionate.


    "Do you mind talking with me a bit afterwards?" Evin asked.


    Sasha looked back at him with some wariness, before reluctantly nodding.


    "Is it alright if I eat something first?"


    "Sure, I''ll be waiting in my room," Evin smiled and went to his room.


    Twenty minutester, Evin heard the door open and Sasha walking in with a barely noticeable scowl.


    "What did you want to talk about?" she asked.

 Chapter 198: An honest conversation

    Chapter 198: An honest conversation


    "I won''t keep you long. You know that I''m a Child of the Empress, right?" Evin didn''t really wish to dance around the problem.


    "Yeah, and what do you want to do about it? If you think I''m going to snitch on my parents, then don''t worry about it. I won''t get in the way of your pathetic ego Still acting like a child, getting hugged by my parents Were you so seriously deprived of love your previous life, you have to pretend to be some kind of actual newborn? Or do you seriously believe that you''re their child?" Sasha suddenly burst like a dam, like she was waiting for an excuse to say all these things priorly.


    ''Ah, she definitely misunderstood things This makes it a bit easier. Though she is quite harsh with her words'' Evin thought and smiled drolly.


    "Correct me if I''m wrong, but do you think that Lora and Theor doesn''t know?" Evin asked back as calmly as he could.


    Sasha paused briefly at Evin''s words. Visible confusion was apparent in her eyes, before it was reced my hateful mockery.


    "Don''t lie! You think I can''t just ask them and find out about it?" Sasha snarled back, but still said it in a low voice, seemingly afraid of getting found out, for whatever reason.


    "By all means you can go ask them, but they''ll still tell you the same thing, you know?" Evin replied.


    Sasha looked at Evin''s eyes and seemed to realize that he wasn''t lying.


    "Then why would they still act like you''re still their child? Hugging and kissing So close and everything?" Sasha asked, her voice trailing off at the end.


    "I also don''t know what they think of when they approach to hug me, but I suppose they still think of me as their child. After all, some parents still love their children even after they''vemitted heinous crimes or terrible mistakes. And moreover, as much as I''d love to deny this fact, technically I am their child. Obviously, Ie with some extra memories, but it''s not like I magically appeared from some other ce," Evin said with a chuckle.


    Sasha looked back with a nk face, seemingly sorting things in her head as she took on a silver hue for a split second.


    "As for you Well, it just seemed like you were misunderstanding something, so I decided to make things clear to you. I understand that you don''t really trust me, and that you feel very confused about this whole ordeal. I don''t n to force us to get along. If you want to hate me, then, by all means, hate me. But at least you know the other side of the story now," Evin said and Sasha went silent.


    In truth, Evin would love to get along with his sister, but he wouldn''t really mind if his rtion wascking. After all, Evin was someone logical. When he first revealed his origins to his parents, he was ready for them to disown and cut contact with him. If something like that happened, sure Evin would be saddened, but such a thing wasn''t going to get him depressed for long. He would''ve went on with his life, with some part of him even rejoicing that he didn''t have to worry about his family anymore


    Sighing he looked at his sister, who was staring back at him, thinking of something.


    ''I wonder how other Children deal with this problem? After all, there really wasn''t a guidebook for this kind of stuff,'' he couldn''t help but think.


    ''Or maybe there is? Ah whatever. Let''s just get this over with.''


    "What I want to say is, don''t ruin your rtion with the rest of the family over me. It''s not like anyone expected something like this to happen. And if they try to help you out and support you, don''t push away their help. They really don''t mean anything bad with their intentions" Evin was saying some random stuff before he realized something.


    ''Wait, Sasha''s just going through her rebellious phase! After all, she was considered a teenager now. That means that anything I say would probably be swept away by her rage''


    ''Ah, fuck it. Let''s just hope that Lady Veidra''s World would give her some rity of mind. And also, I need to give her the Velvet Contract too... so she can get a boost to her horn and also learn Veidra''s method of forging artifacts. But what if she refuses to take it now?  In fact, I''m pretty sure she''ll refuse it at this timing'' Evin thought and tried to think of a solution.


    "In any case, that''s all from me so I''ll leave you alone. Thanks for listening to me till the end," Evin said and walked out of the room. He decided to bring up the matter of the gift after judging how she acted afterwards.


    ''Wait why did I get out of my own room? Shit, guess I''ll go do something else for a bit,'' Evin thought.


    He then saw Lora and Theor approaching from the bakery, both of them expectantly looking at Evin. The trio went to a different room and closed the door behind them.


    "I''ve talked with her and I feel like there wasn''t much of a problem."


    "Really? Are you sure about that?" Theor asked.


    "Yes, she already knew about me being someone else in my past life, so that made it a bit easier. She just misunderstood that I was hiding the fact from you two and now the misunderstanding is cleared. But don''t go and bother her for the time being, alright? She needs some time alone, I think," Evin said, and wondered how weird this situation would look like from the side. The youngest child of a family, giving his parents advice on how to raise his sister.


    ''I really need that fucking guidebook for reincarnators,'' he thought decisively.


    "Alright. We''ll see how things go," Lora said and sighed in relief. She then looked at Theor and found the other doing the same exact thing. The two smiled at each other, love and affection clear in their eyes.


    Looking at his parents act all lovery-dovey, an awkward feeling rose up in Evin. He quickly tried to think of another matter to distract them.


    "By the way, do you guys want to be 1st grade citizens officially? After all, I''m a prettypetent mage now, so I should be epted pretty easily."


    "Well, I suppose we wouldn''t mind, but I have a feeling we''ll still end up working a bakery around here so in the end, it doesn''t really matter for us?" Lora said, pulled back to reality.


    "What are you talking about, Lora? Evin, don''t listen to this woman. I''m sure you just have to go to the Mage Association building and take some test. If you pass it, they''ll do the rest for you," Theor hurriedly said, obviously knowledgeable about how the process worked.


    Evin smiled and promised to take the test as soon as possible. Since he was actually free today, he decided to go there before lunch. After all, he could see that Sasha was still in his room.

 Chapter 199: Productive boredom

    Chapter 199: Productive boredom


    Evin sat in the lobby of the Mage Association, waiting for a mage toe and exin some of the necessary information to him, his mind wandering off and about thinking of different topics.


    The receptionist told him to wait for someone avable, as there was a supposed shortage of magestely. Evin could see that it was so, judging from the rtively empty halls of the Mage Association,pared to the first time he visited the ce.


    Evin didn''t know if it was due to the war with the South or something else, but he had a feeling that he would soon take part in it when Nasst decided to make him work. And from what Twelve could tell him, Evin could guess that it had something to do with some invaders from other worlds, with the spaceships and everything.


    ''Perhaps they''vee to take over I can tell that they''ve been studying the weaknesses of the Easterners from what they''ve done to Karan. Who could tell that they didn''t study the weaknesses of the other countries?'' Evin thought idly.


    Evin felt like he should be more concerned about this, but he really didn''t want to bother with any of it. Alvox had the Empress and the Authorities to deal with these extraterrestrial threats.


    He himself would rather stick to his own stuff, since worrying about the world''s problems really wasn''t his forte.


    Evin knew that some people out there really couldn''t stand the fact that there were people out there suffering and in pain, and felt obliged and responsible to do something for them as fellow members of the same race, unable to stop themselves. Thinking that there might some little girl out there in the streets, cold and shivering, wondering how the hell was she going to find food to survive tomorrow Thinking of such things, these kind-hearted people would actually lose sleep and spirit, bing depressed and unproductive. To solve this need of theirs to help society, they would volunteer for mostly undesirable jobs, try their best to help others and just be a better person in general.


    Naturally, Evin didn''t look down on these people. He felt that thanks to them, society became a slightly better ce to live. Thanks to the kindness of these people, individuals didn''t automatically assume that everyone was out to harm them in some way. After all, in a 100% dog-eat-dog society, a functioning civilization just wasn''t possible.


    But if these kind-hearted ever want to pull Evin into their social activities, Evin would likely refuse or ghost them. After all, Evin himself didn''t care about the state of strangers and society in general.


    It was a selfish stance, sure, but Evin wasn''t dumb to think that just because he wasn''t the same as others, there was something wrong with him.


    ''Ugh, let''s forget about morals for a bit,'' Evin thought, shaking his head.


    Since Runa was still asleep in his new Dimension, this gave him a rare chance to be alone and just idly think about stuff.


    ''Speaking of the dimension I really should give it a proper name soon, huh? Shadow dimension sounds a bit generic, but it''s so fitting I just wanna name it that and be done with it. Ah, whatever I''ll just keep calling it my shadow, since at the end of the day, it''s just that,'' Evin decided.


    ''As for my other magic, I''ll delve into it when Enri and the others wake up. Ugh, shit, I''ve been cking on creating new spells for a long time, since I have so many options'' Evin thought with dread.


    If Evin was a fucking cultivation maniac, he should''ve developed at least 50 spells at this point, due to how much freedom the World offered, but Evin just wasn''t in the mood to experiment through all of them. As he mentioned before, the biggest problem was that he had too many options. His newly acquired Soul Magic, the Dark World, The Storms, the Heavy World, the Authority Style and the Illusions. Even after lining up everything he thought he knew, Evin was sure that he was still missing something.


    ''Ah, of course, the newly learned Portals and the passive defense, as well That should be about it, right? That''s almost 10 different things! I''m not going to lie, I''m kind of jealous of those pursuers of the True Path who only have to doggedly walk upon a single road''


    This was the biggest reason why he was procrastinating on practicing, even though Rith was always there to encourage him to train harder. There was also his monkey brain refusing to practice out of sheerziness and stubbornness.


    But since he was bored now, and didn''t have anything else to do, he was finally facing the problem head on.


    ''Alright, let''s make a detailed n, or something along those lines,'' he suddenly decided.


    Evin thought about what he could do to solve the issue at hand andnded on the most optimal solution which was obviously: to just tackle each of these problems one at a time. Since he felt pressured because he had so many things to do, it was best to forget about them all for now, and focus on one thing and one thing only.


    ''Since the World Sprites are still unresponsive, I''ll start with something other than the Dark World. Currently, my passive defense should be top priority, since after that, I''ll have finished Nasst''s training. After all, I''ll be rtively free to do whatever I want afterwards. And besides, if I learn how to keep myself safe at all times, then that would be a great weight off my shoulders''


    ''But it''s a bit of a pain to keep it working literally at all times, considering the amount of lodestones that I would need,'' Evin realized. If he could create curving Time beams, he could definitely find a way to attach the thing to his body at all times. Since one beam needed to upy 0.2 kgs of his 28 kg capacity, and if he had five rings of Time beams around him, he would need a system to permanently sustain a consumption of 1 kg per hour, if he was a bit frugal.


    ''So, if I think that a 1 kg lodestones will recharge itself over 2 weeks, then I''ll need a total of 370 kgs of lodestones to keep all this working indefinitely...'' Evin thought unsurely.


    ''Maybe I can ask Rith if I can get another Mana Complex, one which is made specifically so that a mage has a permanently working source of mana''


    But when Evin remembered its price tag, he couldn''t help but frown. But to be fair, although 70 thousand was expensive, it wasn''t impossible for Evin.


    ''Now that I think about it, why is it 70 thousand in the first ce? It''s only half a ton of mana, and although it can work indefinitely, it shouldn''t be that expensive right?'' Evin wondered. He soon concluded that it probably had something to do with the Mana Complex fueling an entire Dimension.


    So technically, it should be much more manageable if Evin just wanted a simple Mana Complex to sate his needs for spells.


    ''Shit, I''m oveplicating these things. I''ll just ask Rith about the Mana Complex, but for the time being, I should just focus on turning these Time Beams into some kind of proper defense mechanism.


    ''I''ll do it when I get home tonight... but I''m feeling much better now that I finally decided on it.''


    ''Damn, having nothing to do is so productive,'' Evin smiled happily, feeling like he finally got out of the maze he was stuck in.


    As Evin was lost in his head, finally, the receptionist called his name.


    "Mage candidate Eviendra, please follow me," the woman''s voice sounded in the lobby.


    Evin got up and followed behind. Soon after he was brought in front of a rather imposing wooden door.


    "The test will be taken inside," the receptionist said.


    Evin felt a bit suspicious and wanted to ask something but the woman beat him to the punch.


    "Whatever questions you may have, you can pose them to the Elder inside," she said and urged Evin to walk inside.


    Evin was worried that something simr to what happened with the Western mage was happening here. Butpared to that time, he now had the ability to protect himself so he wasn''t that afraid.


    Reluctantly, he opened the door and walked inside. Weirdly, the room inside was just a corridor with another door at the end of it.


    ''What the fuck?'' Evin thought and looked back at the receptionist.


    "There will be a seat inside and the Elder will soon attend to you. If for whatever reason, you wish to leave, the door will always be open for you," she replied simply and closed the door behind Evin.


    ''Pretentious motherfuckers,'' Evin thought with disdain, as he debated whether he should make a run for it or not.


    He then tried opening the door by himself to see whether the woman was lying or not. Thankfully, the door was still functional. But that wasn''t enough. After waiting for half a minute, he tried to open the door again.


    "Fuck it," he muttered and walked towards the next door.


    Warily opening the door, he found that the inside was an almost emptyrge room, with a single table with two seats on the side. On one side of the seat sat an elderly man, who looked at Evin with some disapproval.


    "Heh, took you long enough to get the courage to enter here," he said with a raspy voice.

 Chapter 200: The Oath

    Chapter 200: The Oath


    It was hard for Evin to describe how old the man looked. Countless lines of wrinkles on every part of his body, dry skin riddled with ck and brown spots, his sunken eyes looking at Evin from inside his almost hollow eye sockets. His expression would asionally contort into a grimace, even with him doing nothing and his slightest movements would be apanied by sudden flinches.


    One more thing Evin noticed was that when his Western Oath took notice of him, it started to be riled up and aggressive.


    "Sit down. I''m really not in the mood to y a staring game with you," he ordered and slouched back into his seat, breathing out a small sigh of relief in the process.


    Although the man was scary, Evin didn''t feel very threatened so he sat down on the seat. But he still scraped his tongue thrice and entered his battle mode, keeping his mind sharp and focused. The man in front of him was old and crippled, but Evin could tell that his mind was still functional.


    "Am I to understand you want to be a proper mage?" the old man asked.


    "Yes, you can call me Evin, I want to be registered as a half-core Light Mage," Evin answered.


    "Heh, a half-core already How admirable. In any case, take this lodestone and absorb it to your limits. Oh, you can call me Zayev" the old man said and pulled out a big chunk of a lodestone from beside the table.


    Evin did as ordered and the old man nodded.


    "Alright, a barely below average half-core then. That is enough to get you your identity as a mage. Usually you go through a few demonstration spells..." the old man said and then pulled out another thing from beside the table. Evin saw it and it looked very simrly to the Oath Stamp that he had to use two times at this point, except it had two entries.


    He then looked at Evin for a small moment and a sh of understanding sparked through his eyes.


    "I''m assuming you''re a Child of the Empress?" Zayev asked suddenly, a slight grimace on his face.


    Evin guessed he heard the info from somewhere in town, so he didn''t linger too much on the fact and nodded.


    "Then it''s easier. I won''t have to cook up some scary story for you, since you''ll understand that it''s just a fearmongering propaganda, I just have to tell you the truth. I''m what''s called an Oath-punished. The reason why I''m sitting in front of you, broken and battered, is because I''ve broken the Kingdom''s Oath and I''m here to act as an example for you to not break it. I''m not sure if you know, but after you break an Oath, you usually don''t end up dead. After all, you''re a mage, a half-core at that. Even if the Oath crushes your heart, like it threatens to do every time you try something funny, well... heh, you should have a dozen other methods to deal with that, don''t you?" the old man said with a pant. Pausing a bit, he continued.


    "Instead of trying to crush your heart, the Oath will actually turn liquid and assimte itself into your heart. As far as I know, this process is unavoidable, after all, heh, I''ve tried it myself. It will try its best to debilitate your mana-core''s functionality and then act as a beacon for the rest of the kingdom''s mages. Any mage within a certain area will be notified of your position and enforced by the Oath to hunt you down and report you to the kingdom," he said with some difficulty.


    "If that''s all, then what happened to you?" Evin asked, wondering why the man looked so fucked.


    "Ah, this This is just old age. Since I''ve lost my ess to the World of Healing, my body became vulnerable to the countlessmon threats that surround us everyday. But I''m still happy to work for the kingdom, and with this, I''m able to convince young mages to not fall on the wrong path," Zayev said with a wry smile.


    Obviously, Evin could see that the man was being forced to say these things.


    "What about super-imposers and lesser-imposers?" Evin asked.


    "Sadly, I don''t know much about those, but since there hasn''t been a case of a World Domain user going rogue in about five centuries so I guess we can say that either the Oaths do their job well enough, or they are bound by something else entirely."


    "If it''s so convenient, shouldn''t I be worried about the Oaths having a backup control measure or something?" Evin asked.


    "Ah, you don''t have to worry about that. Do you know of ''Absolutes''?" the old man said with a sigh.


    "Yes, a spell or something else that''s almost guaranteed to happen," Evin replied, thinking of the conversation he had with Nasst.


    "Ah, I wish every kid I meet could be like you. Thest one had to sit here for hours to understand everything. I''m really not someone who should be teaching these things to kids," Zayev said with a dry chuckle and began exining: "Since you know about Absolutes, then you should know that they usually have a limitation of some sorts, right?"


    "Ah, so the limitation for the Oath would be to not act upon anything other than what the Oathtaker promised to do," Evin replied.


    "Exactly. It''s a powerful thing for sure, but it won''t act out of line, that you can be sure of. There''s also the Empress'' decree on it as well," Zayev said and paused for a bit.


    ''Ah, with the Empress'' backing it, I suppose I can feel safe,'' Evin thought and realized that having a literal deity watching over you was pretty nice sometimes.


    "Let''s get back to what we were discussing. About what would happen if you break the Oath. After the kingdom takes hold of you, well, your fate can go in a few different ways. If you''re powerful enough, you will most likely end up as a fighter of some sorts, doing the kingdom''s dirty bidding. If you''re not so powerful, then you might end up like me, working as a Secrets Keeper for the kingdom, or some other profession that might be in demand. Well, the worst-case scenario, you might end up a guinea pig for someboratory," Zayev said with a grimace.


    "And why haven''t I heard anything about this when I took the Oath?"


    "Perhaps you didn''t ask? Or perhaps the person who was in charge of letting you take the Oath didn''t bother to exin. But, heh, I''m afraid you''re not allowed to regret now as it''s a done deal," Zayev chuckled painfully.


    Evin tried his best to remember what happened when he took the Western Oath. But try as he might, he could only remember getting creeped out by the Oath Stamp. There wasn''t much about the consequences of breaking the Oath. Ssatsko and Aran had only told him about the Oath''s rules.


    "Now, let me tell you what my job is," Zayev said after letting Evin think for a bit.


    "You should know that since you took the Oath of the West, you must report any methods of spellcasting to the Kingdom. Let me tell you how that process works," Zayev started to exin.


    The old man exined that as his title of Secrets Keeper implied he was someone who was assigned to act as a middleman between the kingdom and a mage.


    Evin would tell him how his spell worked and Zayev was supposed to tell him whether the kingdom had knowledge of said spell.


    This implied that the person in front of Evin literally knew every spell and its application in the Kingdom. Thinking of the massive amount of mages in the World and the countless spells that were already in the archives of the kingdom, Evin couldn''t help but be impressed.


    In any case, if the kingdom had information about a simr spell, then Evin was free to go, but if it turned out that Evin created apletely unique spell, then he had two options. One was to go and teach how it worked to the Kingdom, and the other was to keep the spell secret and pay the 10k gold or work for the kingdom.


    Zayev then told Evin that he didn''t have to worry about him being bound by information banned by other contracts and whatnot when he was speaking of these matters. Just like how the Cosmics had the privilege of witnessing literally anything in the World without consequences, the West had the privilege of learning any magical secret that was avable to them. Except of course, the ones that a mage wanted to keep secret. The only exception to this was the Northern Horn. The North held the privilege on that.


    Zayev thenughed and told Evin that although it would be a secret, if the kingdom learned of its effects and they liked it, they would do their best to dig the method out of him. Hearing this, Evin realized that it was exactly what happened with Aran.


    "And how am I supposed to trust you on this?" Evin asked Zayev, but the old man onlyughed and pointed at the Oath Stamp like thing on the table.

 Chapter 201: A complicated system

    Chapter 201: Aplicated system


    "They call this thing a Secrets Protector. As you describe your spell, we will have our hands in it and it will be listening to everything we speak of and then recording them on the Oaths inside us. I can''t quite share how it works exactly, but let me show you its functions. Put your hand inside and tell me how one of your rtivelymon spells work," Zayev said with a sigh.


    Evin warily put his hand inside the fleshy device and started describing how one of his earlier floating spells worked. He could tell that the Oath inside his heart wasmunicating with the Secrets Protector somehow during all this.


    After he was finished, Zayev told him to pull his hand out and started to describe Evin''s spell with some of the words changed a bit.


    At this point, Evin noticed that the Oath inside him was starting to work on something inside his body. All of a sudden, an extremely realistic image of a doll sitting on a chair appeared in front of his vision. Weirdly, there was also a pair of giant hands near this doll. Weirdly, the doll reminded him a lot about the souls inside Four''s World..


    "Can you see a vision of a featureless mannequin and two hands around it?" Zayev asked.


    "Yeah?"


    "Can you freely control the hands by yourself?" Zayev asked.


    "Yes" Evin replied after trying it out.


    "Try raising one of the mannequin''s arms. Be very gentle about it, please."


    Evin could see what was happening here. He carefully controlled one of the hands to pinch the doll''s hands and raised it up, intently looking at Zayev in the process. Just like he expected, the old man''s hand was raised up alongside the doll''s, assuming an identical pose.


    "Shit" Evin couldn''t help but curse, as he let go of the doll''s hand and watched as seeing Zayev''s plop down to his side. Obviously the intention was that if Zayev ever talked about Evin''s spells, his life would literally fall under his hands.


    "Well, now you know why the Kingdom usually puts criminals on my post," Zayev said with a chuckle.


    "Isn''t it enough to just forbid you from talking?" Evin couldn''t understand the need for such excessive methods.


    "Sure they could, but for whatever reason, the mages don''t believe the Kingdom when they only do that. So they have to give part of the power to the mages so they feel safer. Didn''t you just pose the same problem to me just now?" Zayev answered with a shrug.


    ''Well, I suppose he''s right,'' Evin thought.


    "But to be honest, he-he, you''re one of the better ones. Some of them go a bit crazy just to make sure that the Oath Protector is doing its job properly, making me assume weird and unrealistic poses Oh my poor battered body," the old man said with a chuckle.


    "Well, I''ll spare you from that," Evin smiled wryly.


    "Now that we''re done, let''s get to work," the old man said, urging Evin to begin talking.


    Shaking his head Evin started to describe his spells one by one.


    Two hourster, with the help of the Oath, Evin had finished speaking of everything in his knowledge.


    From his earliest attempts at the World of Storms and histest spells which incorporated the World of Space. Soul Magic, the World of Space and even his prized Battle-mode, he had to talk about all of them in great detail. Obviously, just like Twelve told him, Evin didn''t have to speak anything about his usage of Divine Essence and anything that rted to the age before the Empress.


    As for the knowledge he got from the books, he just showed them to the old man.


    Zayev''s face had even turned slightly reddish at the end of it all, properly impressed at Evin''s knowledge of magic. Evin was almost proud of himself for giving the old man some life back.


    "Alright. Seems like I''ve stumbled upon a reincarnated High-Mage," Zayev said with admiration.


    Evin didn''t wish to deny the title, as it would be easier to exin if people just assumed that.


    "Do I have to teach any of these to the kingdom?" Evin asked.


    "Hmm, most of the spells you use are known by the kingdom. Even the usage of Soul magic and the use of your Time energy beams. But the main difference between you and other mages are the details that you make use of and apply to your spells. Small optimizations that add up to make your spells much stronger than most others. But those are mostly individual specialties so the kingdom is usually lenient on such details," Zayev said.


    Evin didn''t find it surprising that most of his spells were known by the Kingdom. After all, it was a country with an extensive history. With 80% of the mages being willpower-based ones, there were countless mages who would think of the most unique methods to use one World.


    "But, there is still one thing that falls into a grey area and it''s your so-called Battle-mode. About how you create a switch to ess your gestures," Zayev said and paused a bit.


    "Obviously, there were people who tried to bind their spells with specific thoughts. Most of them do it in a three-word code system, where for example, if a mage thinks ''fox-system-bite'' they automatically cast a certain spell."


    "And at first, it really doesn''t affect their lives, after all, they have to think of the words pretty clearly to make it work. But it''s still not a risk-free thing, since after years of usage, their minds be so used to constructing those spells, they could end up casting a stray spell without meaning to when something or someone startles them. Aside from this, there''s also the constant strain on their minds to be always ready to cast a spell at a moment''s notice, especially for the mages withcking mental fortitude."


    "Your trick helps a lot to solve thesetent problems. After all, as long as you don''t enter your battle-mode, your mind is mostly at ease and there''s no risk of identally setting off a spell," Zayev finished exining and let out a small groan.


    Evin heard the exnation and could see how the things that Zayev said could be harmful in the long run.


    "So what am I supposed to do?" he asked.


    "Even though your method could technically be considered a supplementary detail, its effects are too good for the kingdom to ignore," Zayev concluded and exined what Evin should do next.


    Basically, Evin just had to write a letter describing the details of his spell and give it to Earl Borna. Obviously, he could choose to pay the 10k gold or just offer his contributions, like some others choose to.


    Evinpared the options and found that one of the choices was by far the worst of the three.


    ''Well, I suppose the ridiculous price of 10k was just there to encourage mages to work for the country. After all, with 10k gold, it''spletely feasible to maintain and work a small mercenarypany,'' Evin thought.


    While the South and North outright told its mages that they were forced to work for the country, apparently, the West tried its best to trick them into working.


    Steering his head back to the topic at hand, Evin thought of what he should do. Three times to do the Kingdom''s bidding was alright, but Evin really didn''t want to do that. As for 10k gold, the price was simply too much for the spell, which could almost be considered a convenience buff to a mage.


    Comparing it like that, Evin''s decision was obvious: he would give the kingdom what the wanted. But there were some stuff that Evin was curious about.


    "Do you know how other mages in the kingdom can ess my spell?"


    "Ah, let''s exin to you how exchanging contributions work in the kingdom," Zayev said, as if remembering something.


    The old man exined that every new spell or detail that Evin contributed to the kingdom would give him what was called a spell token and between 10-1000 contribution points. A spell token could be used for Evin to learn a spell from the kingdom''s archive and the amount of contribution points he had would decide the quality of the spells that were avable to him.


    There were also many other ways for a mage to get spell points and contribution points, mostly through the war with the South. Moreover, since Evin was still ''young'', he could go to the academy and farm up contribution points and spell tokens that way.


    "What decides the amount of contribution points I get for my spells?" Evin asked.


    "It depends on various factors. The first one will be the evaluation that the Western Spell Committee of the kingdom gives. They will ssify whether it''s an offensive, defensive, supportive, or just a convenience upgrade like in your case and then give it a ranking from one to ten, with Ten being the highest. Then, they will put it in the Kingdom''s catalogue of spells, and give it a fitting name. Yours will probably be named Gesture Optimization and put in perhaps rank 6 or 7, since Gestures are usually considered something rtively high-level."


    "And when a mage from the kingdom chooses it and starts using it, they can give your spell a rating that ranges between one to five stars. Obviously, the better your rating, the more people would try it out. And the more people use it, the more contribution points you will receive," Zayev exined.

 Chapter 202: A proper Mage

    Chapter 202: A proper Mage


    "And how is all this regted?" Evin asked.


    "What do you mean?"


    "There are probably thousands of mages who use this in the kingdom, how do they keep track of all of this?" Evin rified.


    "Oh, that''s, uhh... mostly through personnel from the Spell Committee? They collect all of the data regarding new Spells and update them every month. If you want to keep track of how your spell is doing or how much contribution points you received, you will need to make a habit of visiting the Mage Association building to check them all out," Zayev said with a sigh.


    "Alright Is that all?"


    "For the time being, yes. Take this paper and show it to the receptionist. She''ll give you your Mage Seal and do the same for your family if they''re still not 1st grade citizens. She''ll also be in charge of exining what to do with the matter of your gestures," Zayev said after filling out a paper and signing on it.


    Evin thanked the old man and wished him good health to which Zayev just chuckled wryly.


    He exited the room and showed the receptionist the papers. The woman nced through them and offered Evin a seat in herpartment.


    "Congrattions, Light mage Eviendra," the woman said and asked after a small bow: "Will you be sending how your spell works to the kingdom?"


    "Yes," Evin replied, thankful for the receptionist''s calm attitude. He really didn''t like to make fusses or scenes, unless a certain mood took over his head.


    "Then please remember to give an enclosed letter describing your spell to Earl Borna in a month and a small exnation on it. If you fail to meet this deadline, there will be a chance that you will be conscripted to a future battle or a random mission of some sorts. You will only be able to be free from the conscriptions by paying the necessary amount of gold coins," the woman said as she worked a box-like Magical Device of some sorts.


    ''Guess that''s fair enough,'' Evin thought and listened to the woman exin further.


    "Moreover, you will have to visit a Secrets Keeper every year. If you have a lot to report, please create some free time for it. Most sessions end up an hour long at least."


    "After the evaluation of your spelles back, you can ess the Spell category inside any Mage Association building located throughout the kingdom. There is also a branch located in the key cities of the Empire, such as: Tower City, Koidot City and Vasheen City of the East."


    The woman then brought out a small stamp-like thing from inside the Magical Device and gave it to Evin.


    Looking at it in detail, Evin noticed that it was a circr seal of some sorts that was decorated in a very peculiar way: half of it was made of silver while half of it was made of lodestones. Evin took notice of the fact that the lodestone seemed to shine a bit, not in the way he and other mages see, but in a way that was visible to non-mages as well. But its functionality as a source of mana seemed a bitcking. Looking at it with some curiosity, he found a text on the bottom of the circle.


    [Eviendra of Smallwall Town]


    [Mage Association of the Western Kingdom]


    [5/5 y. 1478]


    The 5/5 before the year meant that it was thest season of the year, Winter. Since Alvox only had 10 months, it was a bit awkward to have quarters. So, they had five seasons. The year started with Cold Spring, went to Warm Spring, turned to Summer, then came Fall and it finally ended with Winter.


    "This is your Mage Seal. Since you''re a half-core, half of the Seal is made of a lodestone. You can also have a new one issued when you be a lesser-imposer, or a super-imposer in the future. By possessing a Mage Seal, you will naturally receive the proper benefits and respect you deserve from most establishments. As for your family, they will also receive the benefits of 1st grade citizens," the receptionist said and gave Evin a piece of paper rolled into a scroll.


    Evin didn''t expected it to be the same thing his family received when they became 2nd grade citizens so he didn''t bother opening it up to check it.


    "Also, we have a 4th grade citizen in our house, who is basically family, what should we do about her?" Evin asked in behalf of Elina.


    The girl''s situation was overall fine since she spent most of her time indoors, but Evin could still see some of the customer acting condescendingly to Elina for being a 4th grade citizen. The girl herself seemed to not mind as much, but since it didn''t hurt Evin in any way, he didn''t mind helping the girl out.


    And as far as he noticed, his parents really didn''t seem to care about the issue that much, thinking that since they didn''t mind and didn''t act differently to Elina, everyone else would be the same as them. The two were weird and almost socially nave in that sense. It showed in the case with Norna, when Theor still stayed to work in the inn, even after what he tried to do to Elina. Evin really didn''t know what their thought process was on that one.


    "Since 4th grade citizens are usually ves or criminals their grade does not get upgraded with someone bing a mage. But, if you wish to grant her the status simr to your family, I suppose your parents could adopt her. After all, it''s not a rare thing as far as I know. But you should go to the Citizenship bureau for more details," the woman answered after thinking a bit.


    "I''ll do that, then," Evin answered.


    "Oh, and also, you should also know that since you became a mage, your opinions and decisions would be more respectedpared to the ones of your parents, even though they''re technically your guardians. Moreover, since you''re already a half-core, who is already distinguished enough to report an unknown spell to the kingdom, you can cut a few corners if you want to start a noble family with the right amount of money. Not just having someone jump from being a 4th grade citizen to a 1st or 2nd grade," the woman added.


    ''Huh, that''s a bit weird and random,'' Evin thought when he heard the first statement. Mages were smarter than non-mages, sure, but it wasn''t like an actual four-year-old would be better suited to lead the familypared to an adult. Even Evin, who was a Child of the Empress wasn''t so confident that he would be a proper decision maker in a family. After all, he didn''t wish to be bound with the responsibility ofmanding others.


    ''Now that I think about it, it''s almost impossible for mages ofmon origins to be a half-core at this point in their lives, when you consider how secretive materials and knowledge rted to magic is, and how hard it is for someone without money to increase the size of their mana-core.''


    As for bing a noble, that sounded like trouble and politics, so he didn''t wish to delve into that yet. Evin would probably consider it if there was something to be gained from it, but not now.


    "Alright, thanks for the information," Evin said nheless and left, heading for the citizenship bureau.

 Chapter 203: Status

    Chapter 203: Status


    On the way, he thought about how he should go about spending his holidays.


    ''Actually, I don''t really have a lot to do, huh? After I''m done with this citizenship thing, I just need to apany Arza to the Serpent and then pay a visit to the Earl. After that, I should be rtively free'' he realized and sighed with satisfaction.


    ''It''s so peaceful to be left alone with one''s thoughts.''


    Evin had spent so much time with a variety of people in his head or in his shadows, chatting and making noise. Evin supposed that he was just too used to living as a spirit, with no one ever bothering him.


    Thinking of the fact that after the World Sprites woke up, he would have a group of 80 or so children noisily chattering in his head, he couldn''t help but shudder.


    ''Perhaps I should exin to the World Sprites that I''ll be blocking them off asionally...'' Evin thought as he entered the Citizenship bureau.


    The guard inside stopped Evin from entering, but after the man saw Evin''s Seal, he apologetically let him through.


    Evin told him about the purpose of his visit and the guard directed him to a room, all while looking at Evin with avid curiosity. Evin minded the gaze a bit, but didn''t wish to tell off the poor man, thinking that it was just someone who wasn''t used to seeing young mages.


    What happened next wasn''t that difficult to guess. Just the receptionist said, Evin''s intentions were not obstructed and in half an hour, Elina had officially be a proper first grade citizen, with the proper paperwork and everything.


    ''Sure is nice to be a person of status,'' Evin thought idly as he walked home.


    He then saw Theor waiting for him outside, an almost delusional smile on his face. Seeing Evine back, the man ran over and excitedly asked.


    "How''d it go? And why''d you take so long?"


    "The test took a bit of a time. As for how it went... pretty well, I''d say. Look," Evin replied with a smile and showed Theor the rolled-up scroll.


    Theor almost ripped the thing off Evin''s hands and opened it up.


    " ''This Certificate is valid proof that the direct family of Light-Mage Eviendra, consisting of: Theor(father), Ivelyora Ssatsko(mother), and Sasha(sister) are officially considered 1st grade citizens. Issued by the Citizenship Bureau of the'' " Theor read a bit beforeining about the word usage: "Why so many difficult words?"


    "Well, who knows? I have a feeling government officials are all run by people who love oveplicating stuff," Evin replied idly.


    "Whatever, it''s all fine since we''re 1st grade citizens now. That means we''re just below the knights, nobles and the mages, huh?" Theor said with a smile.


    "Well, I don''t think you''ll see much change. After all, you''re still nning to stay here and sell bread, right?" Evin asked and saw a rare serious expression appear on Theor''s face.


    "Hmm, we''ll do this for a while and save up to open a shop in the high-end districts. Though we don''t know what we''ll do about this shop here," he replied.


    "Why don''t you train some of the people here and sell the ce to them afterwards? After all, it''s not a bad property for most of the people here," Evin answered.


    "Eh, but it''s still our first house, you know? I won''t feel very good knowing that there''s some stranger sleeping in our beds."


    "Ha-ha, just take the beds with you. And also, if you''re about to move, make sure to tell me about it, alright?"


    "But aren''t you going to be staying here for the most part? Why do I feel like you''re talking about leaving your house so soon," Theor asked and Evin wondered.


    "Oh yeah, I guess I''m still just a 6-year-old, huh? When do people leave their houses anyway?" Evin muttered.


    "Usually when they turn 15. Sometimes even earlier than that," Theor said and after pondering for a bit, asked: "What will you be doing after you''re finished with the Horn Ceremony?"


    Evin realized that he didn''t tell them about working for Nasst for a year.


    "Afterwards, I''ll be working for my Instructor for about half a year. Actually, I''m almost finished with the things I can study there, so I had almost four months of nothing, but my instructor decided to let me work earlier," Evin answered.


    "What? Isn''t that uwful childbor or something? The, uhh, the thing you say after we try to make you do chores? That job though, sounds even worse than having you do chores," Theor asked with shock.


    "Ha-ha, that''s true. But since I''ve promised to work for him, I can''t just bail out when he asks. Well, don''t worry about it, it''s just one year, after all," Evinughed and the two entered their house.


    "Hey, hey, hey! Lora! Look who''s here!" Theor bellowed loudly all of a sudden, sheer joy and pride oozing from his voice.


    "Yes, yes, who is it?" Lora''s sigh came from the other end of the house.


    "It''s a 1st grade citizen, ha-ha-ha. And guess who his wife is? It''s none other than a beautiful woman named Lora, with a beautiful daughter named Sasha, and a handsome boy name Evin."


    Said handsome boy was standing next to the man, wanting to jump into his shadows.


    ''You were fine just a second ago, what happened?'' Evin thought in his head, looking at the short manughing with satisfaction in the house corridors.


    Lora and Elina soon came out to congratte Evin for being recognized as a mage. Evin could also see Sasha in the background, looking over with a nk face.


    "Oh, Elina, I have a gift for you as well," Evin said and showed her the new identification documents.


    "What does it say?" Elina asked, looking at the papers with some difficulty.


    "Oh, Elina, you''re a proper 1st grade citizen like us now. You''ve probably done the biggest social jump in the history of the kingdom, ha-ha. Congratuations," Lora said with a smile.


    "Ooh, what''s this? A 1st grade citizen already. Ha-ha, we need to celebrate now!" Theor said from the side.


    ''Just like I thought, they don''t give two shits about this social levels bullshit,'' Evin thought from the side.


    "Really?" Elina asked and disbelief appeared on her face. But Evin could notice that it was very quickly reced by a fear of some sorts, as she muttered softly: "But I don''t even know how to read"


    The others didn''t seem to hear the girl''s words, but Evin could definitely hear them.


    "Well, you can worry about itter," Evin said as he floated over to put his hands over her shoulders, putting on his best smile in the process, wondering why the girl acted so unwilling to be a 1st grade.


    Elina smiled back, but still seemed a bit confused, as her gaze faltered and faced the floor.


    ''Guess I''ll need to talk with her as well, huh?'' Evin thought, sighing in his head.

 Chapter 204: Social Supremacy

    Chapter 204: Social Supremacy


    In the evening, after everyone dispersed after a huge dinner, Evin knocked on Elina''s door, his ears perked up, listening for sounds inside. He could hear the rustling of paper for a bit, before it was reced by soft footsteps.


    "Master Evin?" Elina said, some surprise on her face.


    "Sorry to intrude upon your evening," Evin said, eyeing Elina''s expression.


    "Oh, no. Please don''t mind. But could you tell me why you came here?"


    "Ah, just wanted to apologize for turning you into a 1st grade without asking you first. In hindsight, I just did what I thought was good andpletely forgot that I was making decisions for you, without really considering what you want," Evin exined with an awkward smile.


    "What do you mean? Why would you need to apologize for that? I''m very happy about it, please don''t worry. I mean, how can I not be?" Elina denied vehemently.


    "When you realized what the papers were for, I saw you look a bit scared. Uhh, do you mind if we talk inside?" Evin asked before Elina sent out another barrage of denials.


    Elina''s room was one of the simplest ones that Evin ever saw. It was barely better than most prison cells, since she wasn''t allowed to possess most things. There was a bed, a table and a seat, with most of her clothes were stacked on a tform stuck on the wall. The clothes themselves were monotonous as well, most of them having a nd beige-white colors.


    "You really don''t have to worry about me, master Evin. Ei- I, I was just a bit shocked to see it happen to me," Elina said with a stutter.


    "You really don''t have to call me ''master'', you know?" Evin said.


    "I''m sorry, uh, mage Evin," Elina replied, panicking.


    "Ah, whatever," Evin chuckled and thought about what he should say to spark the conversation he wanted.


    "Hmm, I''m sorry if I''m wrong, but do you feel pressured by the concept of being a 1st grade citizen?" he asked, thinking of what the girl murmured when she first received her documents.


    Elina looked back with a face that seemed to be asking: ''Isn''t that natural?''.


    "I think you believe that just by being a first grade citizen, someone''s stands above others. That they automatically be someonepletely untouchable bymon girls like you," Evin continued.


    Elina looked back at Evin with eyes that showed agreement.


    "Elina, do you know of a word called ''Propaganda''?" Evin asked.


    "No, I don''t I''m sorry," a small voice replied.


    "Don''t be. It''s just a word. You don''t have to know all of them. Hmm, anyway, spreading propaganda means spreading information that''s meant to mislead amon person''s point of view, mostly used for controlling, or political purposes," Evin noticed how Elina''s expression turned nk, clearly lost in Evin''s convoluted words.


    "Let me exin it to you a bit better. Let''s say I live in a town where everyone gets the same bed from its ruler. But I''m thinking that I should sell this bed to make some money. So, I start thinking of ways to better sell it," Evin started and looked at Elina, wondering if she was listening or not. Thankfully, the girl seemed to be following through just fine this time, even though the analogy was so-so at best.


    "I paint the furniture with some pretty colors, put some nice decorations on it and put it on sale. To every person I meet, I tell them about how bad their bed is, and why they should buy my bed, how they''ll sleep better in my bed, even though in actuality, it''s just the same bed that everyone else is using," Evin said, wondering what the hell was his mind droning off about.


    "This is what propaganda is, it''s just lies to make you believe that one thing is better than the others. Now, what do you think will happen to the person who buys the bed from me?" Evin asked.


    "They''ll realize that the bed is the same as what they already had," Elina said.


    "Exactly. The Kingdom''s rulers do the same thing with the grades of the citizens. They try to make you believe that from their birth, some citizens are fundamentally better than others. Obviously, since they''re much more powerful than a simple bed seller like me, they can do a lot of things to make its citizens actually feel like being a 1st grade citizen is better than being a 2nd or 3rd grade citizen. They constantly remind its citizens to respect the ones who stand atop you, and they encourage the ones down below to climb the socialdder properly."


    Evin was sure that the government actively tried to hinder a family who was living better than what their social levels suggested. If a 3rd grade family looked to be living better than a 2nd grade, they were probably either forced to rank up, or just forced to live in misery.


    "But it is better than being a 4th grade citizen, no?" Elina asked.


    "See, that''s the problem. Fundamentally, even if you''re a 4th grade or a 1st grade, you won''t change by a lot. Think about my parents. They became 1st grade citizens today, and besides some new things that they could purchase now, they haven''t really changed much, have they? Theor still makes his stupid jokes, Lora still loves to bake goods and make trinkets," Evin said.


    "And yes, you were someone who could be considered a ve. But that''s just something that was forced upon you. If you remembered your biological parents, you might''ve been able to know exactly what kind of people they were. If they were 2nd grade citizens, you would be a 2nd grade. If they were 3rd grade citizens, you would be a 3rd grade. At the end of it, it just depends on your luck, doesn''t it?" Evin smiled.


    Elina was the perfect example why propaganda worked. Since society as a whole, constantlybeled Elina as a ve from the day she was conscious, naturally she would ept that as the truth. Then she sees the people at the top, the 1st grade citizens in a false light of supremacy, something that was just not possible for her to be.


    But when she suddenly became one of them, her world view shattered. When she suddenly turned into one of those superior beings that were 1st grade citizens, she would start feeling like a fraud of some sorts.


    "But I''m still unworthy of being a 1st grade citizen. I can''t even read and do thoseplicated numeric problems and that''s a requirement to just be a 2nd grade citizen, right?" Elina retorted.


    Evin wanted to deny her, but he felt that there was some truth to her words. After all, Evin just gave her this title, without her doing anything to earn it. While on the other hand, Evin and Lora had to go through a lot to earn their right to be 2nd grade citizens. It was understandable if Elina felt this way.


    "Actually, if you want, I can just turn you into a 3rd grade citizen. In my opinion, the difference between a 3rd grade and a 4th grade isn''t much, and the difference between a 2nd grade and a 1st grade isn''t that big either. So you can study on your reading and problem solving to be a 2nd grade citizen, and after that I can help you be a 1st grade citizen," Evin said.

 Chapter 205: Race through the forest

    Chapter 205: Race through the forest


    "Maybe if you go through the process yourself, you''ll see that the difference between these levels of society aren''t really that important. I''ve seen countless 2nd grade citizens and 1st grade citizens that are much worse than you. Sure they could read and solve numerical problems, but I would choose you over them at any moment of the day. I''d even argue that the glorified nobles aren''t much better than usmon people... Though don''t say that in front of a guard or an official, alright?" Evin winked.


    Elina looked at Evin with some confusion, seemingly wondering how such a thing was possible.


    "And also, if you go to the North, you''ll see that it''s a country that doesn''t really have those social levels. Sure there are poor and rich people there, but at the end of it, they''re just poor, powerless people and rich, authoritative people.. So for example, if I give you 1000 gold coins today, shouldn''t you automatically be one of those rich people?"


    "Master Evin, please don''t joke about such things," Elina replied with a flustered smile.


    "Alright. Anyway, if you want to be a 3rd grade citizen, just tell me and I''ll make it happen," Evin said.


    "But is that okay? To constantly bother the Citizenship Bureau like that?" Elina asked.


    "It''s alright. They seemed to be happy enough to do my biddings," Evin said and fell silent... "I now realize that even though I speak to you about people being fundamentally equal. I guess that I''m really not the right person to talk about these things, huh? A half-core mage, who is also a Child of the Empress, that''s also a bit more specialpared to the rest of the Children" Evin murmured.


    "But Master Evin deserves it, I think," Elina tried to reassure Evin awkwardly.


    ''Do I? I guess After all, I need some kind of constion reward for living as a spirit'' Evin thought unconfidently.


    "Ah, whatever. Let''s just say that Mages and Nobles are built differently. But since you''re a non-mage, remember that you can be whoever you want, just not someone who can use magic," Evin concluded and continued: "I''ll go to the Bureauter to have your grade changed."


    "Please, don''t go to such lengths for me. I''ll do it myself," Elina answered immediately.


    ''Something tells me you won''t be taken seriously there'' Evin thought about working in the ce and seeing some girl walking in to get demoted. He vehemently denied Elina''s request, even forbidding her to go and change her identity behind Evin''s back.


    The two talked back and forth until eventually, Elina conceded and decided to embrace her identity as a 1st grade, to slowly be worthy of it.


    ''Nice Reverse psychology,'' Evin thought and acted like everything urred ording to his ns.


    Saying his goodnights to Elina, he went back to his room to prepare for tomorrow''s outing. After all, he knew that the forest took him about a week to traverse thest time.


    ''No, we''ll teleport or fly there if necessary. I don''t want to spend my holidays in a forest. After all, I have to send the letter to Earl Borna, and somehow give Sasha the Velvet Contract as well.''


    Arza, Evin and Ssatsko were swiftly traversing through the forest, jumping and dashing about, while Rith was floating above them, acting as a guide of some sorts. The forest was gigantic, needing about three days to traverse if they were to walk, so the group decided to go through the forest as fast as possible.


    To make things interesting, Evin and Arza were having a race, to see which of them would reach their destination the fastest. Ssatsko had just joined in to work his body a bit. But aside from speed, under the insistence of Rith, they also had to reach the destination without touching the ground, hence the swinging and the jumping through the tree branches.


    Arza didn''t know what exactly they were doing here, but he didn''t mind it too much. He was just happy to freely work his body like this way.


    Although he knew that Evin wasn''t very happy about apanying him through this race, he was still thankful that the Child of the Empress was willing to go through the trouble of entertaining an actual child like himself.


    ''Though, I never knew that Evin was someone who could move so deftly through these forests,'' Arza thought, as he found Evin jumping from tree to tree, doing random backflips and other shy movements.


    [Damn Evin, why does he look more like a damn monkey than an actual monkey?!] Karan also agreed with Arza''s thoughts. At first the skinshifter was nonchnt about this whole race, but after seeing Evin''s back for the whole duration of it, he became a bit heated.


    The two never thought Evin for someone who like to move around trees so naturally, so of course, they could onlypare the boy to a monkey. But it was a rare sight to see, as Arza was sure that Evin would just float above the trees, if there was no rule saying that they had to be tacky about it all.


    [Careful, there''s a bird behind that tree!] Karan said from his side, directing Arza''s attention towards a particr tree that he was jumping towards.


    Expecting something to jump up from behind it, Arza was preparing to dodge if necessary. Just like he expected, a startled bird flew straight in front of Arza''s path, but since Arza was prepared he ducked down a bit to let the poor animal fly over his head.


    [Nice dodge!] Karan shouted in Arza''s head.


    After Arza and Karan started to practice together, they found out that they could do a lot of things together if they practiced enough. Karan could highlight a detail inside Arza''s mind, so Arza could also focus on whatever thing that Karan found threatening. After all, if Karan just told Arza to be careful of a tree inside a forest, it would be more misleading rather than helpful.


    Their general synergy when they were trying to do something when they were fighting was also bing much better. After Arza learned of the Authority Style for the World of Life users, they started work even better together.


    Arza was itching to fight with Evin to see how much stronger he became, but Evin really wasn''t a good point of reference, since his fighting style was just so varied and bizarre. Arza was sure that he would lose before he even understood what had happened.


    ''So I''ll fight him when I''m sure I''ll beat him,'' he thought resolutely.

 Chapter 206: The meeting

    Chapter 206: The meeting


    Eventually, the group reached the giant tree stump. As for the race, Arza ultimately won, because he was just much too fastpared to Evin, who was simply nimble and wascking in raw power. But Arza wasn''t satisfied with this win, since he knew that if the two every fought inside a forest like this, he would be the one losing, because he wouldn''t be able to catch onto Evin. A race was one thing, but what truly mattered was battle prowess.


    "Supposedly, this tree was something that could reach the heavens above and the people that lived around it could live in a state of utopia, almost. This incurred the jealousy of the other countries and they decided to cut this tree down," the boy in question started to exin the history of the tree stump.


    "And then what happened?" Arza asked.


    "When the tree was almost cut down in half, it directed all its energy downwards, bing something that was connected to hell underground," Evin said.


    "But we don''t have hell or heaven on Alvox, right? The souls reincarnate in an endless cycle, while some retain their memories like you," Arza said and saw Evin smile back at him, awfully amused.


    "I know, right? But that''s what everyone says, so you know?" Evin replied with a shrug, walking towards an opening behind the stump.


    History aside, Arza really admired this ce. Not because of the impossibly huge tree stump, but because this ce was simply brimming with life. Arza was almost sure that his mana-core would increase in size naturally if he stayed here for prolonged times. He could only regret not knowing of this ce before almost right outside the town as well.


    "What is this ce, anyway?" he asked.


    "You''ll see soon," Evin smiled ambiguously and beckoned Arza over.


    Arza warily walked over to Evin''s side, entering the small opening under the tree stump. Looking around, he could see that there was a cave of some sorts that underneath, seemingly created thanks to the root of the tree.


    "Wow" a sigh came out of his mouth.


    As he was taking in the awe-inspiring sight, he saw Evin gather a bundle of Life Energy and throw it deep into the cave.


    A weird feeling of anticipation took over Arza''s head, as he excitedly thought of what was going to happen next.


    He didn''t have to wait long, as pink spheres of varying sizes appeared in his vision, floating towards him en masse. Arza didn''t realize what these things were, but he could feel that they were very excited to see him. He did not shy away from them and let his body be taken over by the pink army.


    Countless thoughts regarding a certain topic appeared in Arza''s mind: how his body worked in general, about how he could use Life energy more efficiently, and solutions about the things he was struggling with.


    As he was immersed with these new revtions, he felt an almost suffocating re fall upon his body. Arza opened his eyes and saw that Evin and the others were kneeling in front of a gigantic serpent, one that was enveloped in the brightest pink hue that Arza saw in his life. When Arza''s eyes met the serpent''s gaze his body was paralyzed due to the unsurmountable gap between their levels.


    While Arza was wondering what he should be doing, the serpent seemed to not mind if and smiled as he slowly inspected Arza with unparalleled interest. Its head then came closer to smell Arza and its smile disappeared and a look of uncertainty appeared on its slitted eyes.


    [FEAR?] An almost ear-shattering voice appeared inside Arza''s head. It felt extremely simr to how Arza spoke to Karan, just a dozen times more pressuring.


    [Who are you?] Arza asked back, trying to put on a brave front. Something told was telling him that this was the right move.


    [DID THESE FOOLS BROUGH YOU HERE AS A SURPRISE? SHOULDN''T THEY PREPARE YOU A BIT, AT LEAST? YOU HUMANS AND YOUR POINTLESS GAMES,] the serpent''s booming voice echoed in Arza'' head, mercilessly reverberating in every little corner of it.


    [What do you want] Arza replied with great difficulty.


    [HAH, CAN''T EVEN TAKE ON MY VOICE. WHAT WILL YOU DO WHEN I MYSELF TAKE ROOT IN YOUR BODY? HA-HA-HA,] the serpentughed inside Arza''s head and Arza''s bones seemed to vibrate in unison with theughter.


    [Please Stop] Arza was almost at the brink of cking out.


    The serpent then snorted and its presence disappeared from inside Arza.


    [You alright? Damn that snake, even I was assaulted by his voice] Karan asked with a grunt.


    [I think I''m fine,] Arza replied and fell onto the ground. He could then feel Evining to pick him up.


    "What happened?" Evin asked as he checked whether Arza was okay or not.


    Before Arza was able to reply, Ssatsko interrupted him.


    "The Beast Lord wishes for Arza to follow him deeper into the cave."


    Arza then felt the ground rumble as the gigantic Serpent turned around to head deeper into the cave.


    ''A Beast Lord? Of course'' Arza realized and thought back on the previous experience. From what he could read from the books for beginner mages and from what happened with Evin and the Vulpine Mother of the Deep, Arza understood what was going on.


    "What about us?" Evin asked.


    "Ugh, we can follow behind," Ssatsko replied, his hands massaging the skin around his pink horn.


    The group then got back on their feet and started to walk deeper into the cave. The Serpent had left already, leaving a pink trail for the group to follow. Arza could notice how the pink blobs around them were gradually taking on the forms of little snakes, slithering about all over the ce. Some of them seemed to be happy enough totch onto Arza, making him ticklish all around his body. Although Arza was a bit dissatisfied with this, he could notice how they were gradually seeping into his body, strengthening it greatly.

 Chapter 207: To be worthy

    Chapter 207: To be worthy


    After a half-hour walk deep into the underground, the group finally appeared inside a big open space, where the Giant Serpent was lying on a pile of various metals. It briefly nced at Arza and some of the pink blobs around gathered together to form a floating human torso. The head only had a mouth and a bit of its chest, while the rest of its body was missing.


    "Who knew that a random human I spared in the past would actually bring me back a host candidate?" the pink human torso spoke, facing Ssatsko.


    Arza knew that it was the serpent talking, as he could feel how this voice, although much more bearable this time. But one thing that was different was the way it spoke, which was much gentlerpared to the serpent''s raw thoughts.


    "I''m d to be of service," Ssatsko replied, a hint of reverence in his voice.


    "Take whatever you wish from my collection. I understand you humans expect rewards and benefits for your services, no?" the Beast Lord spoke through the torso.


    "I don''t dare," Ssatsko replied, not even ncing at the collection of metals. Arza could see some rather precious metals shining in the pile, but mostly the collection was just iron and copper.


    Arza looked at Evin and saw the boypletely out of focus, staring at nk space.


    ''What''s he doing?'' Arza thought, but quickly brought his attention to the serpent.


    "Do as you will. As for the red one Give the two of us a moment," the torso ordered.


    Ssatsko and Rith walked away, but noticed that Evin waspletely zoned out. The two panicked a bit, seemingly debating through their eyes whether or not they should drag Evin out in the presence of the Serpent.


    "Drag the ck-haired boy away. Although I hate his gall to go through that in my presence, I''m in a good mood now, so I''ll let it slide," the torso instructed and the two walked out of the space, with pile of pink snakes appearing to block out the path that they took.


    Arza looked over at the giant Serpent looking over him with interest. A sudden feeling of excitement came over his heart, as he thought about all the stories of mages who assimted Beast Lords inside themselves.


    ''If I be one of them, maybe I can beat Evin,'' a thought appeared in Arza''s head.


    "Are you going to fuse with me?" he then asked, unable to bear the silence.


    The giant snake seemed to smile, as the torso began speaking.


    "Oh, how I wish to do just that and get this thing over with but the problem is, you''re going to die in the process. I don''t know how these other Beast Lords assimte themselves, but the moment the entirety of my existence enters your body, you''re simply going to explode into a bloodbath. But that''s not the biggest problem. We can work on getting your body ready over the years, as I slowly let you absorb my powers, gradually making you stronger and stronger."


    Arza thought about it and thought that perhaps the Serpent was right. After all, just thinking about it physically, the size difference was too big. The Serpent was at least a thousand times bigger than Arza. But for this other problem Arza didn''t know what it was.


    "What''s the biggest problem?"


    "The biggest problem is you''re too vulnerable," the mouth on the torso smiled widely. Arza wasn''t able to understand fully, so he let the Serpent exin further.


    "Youck the dignity to stand atop others, youck the superbia that should be natural the powerful, and youck the poise that I require from my host. You''re toocking in pride But I feel like it''s not your fault. I feel that there was a certain someone that instilled in you this feeling of inferiority. Perhaps if you''ve never met this person, we wouldn''t be having this conversation now," the World sprite said and the serpent''s eyes briefly ncing towards where Evin and the others had just left towards.


    [YOU NEED TO SURPASS THAT BOY YOU LOOK UP TO SO MUCH] the serpent''s jarring voice reappeared in Arza''s mind.


    "Ugh, why him? There are countless mages and Beasts who are stronger than me," Arza replied with a groan.


    [THEY DON''T COUNT. WHO CARES IF SOME 500-YEAR-OLD MAGE IS STRONGER THAN YOU? BUT THE BOY, ON THE OTHER HAND, HE'' SOMETHING THAT MATTERS TO YOU, SOMEONE YOU CARE. YOU NEED TO BEST THE BOY PERMANENTLY AND YOU CAN''T FAIL IT.]


    "Just use the World Sprites to talk!" Arza shouted back with a shudder, trying to calm himself down.


    The smile on the pink torso widened and it mockingly asked.


    "Why are you so against this? Don''t you always wish to beat the boy in a fight?"


    "The way you speak of it there''s something sinister about it," Arza said with a pant.


    "You think I want you to kill him? Hehe, that''s certainly an idea. But unfortunately for you, that would achieve the opposite of what we want. After all, it''s not about him, it''s about you," the weirdly made World Sprite said.


    Hearing the exnation, Arza calmed down a bit.


    "So I just have to beat Evin and we can start assimting?" he asked unsurely.


    "Basically, yes. But the sooner the better. If you take too long, you might end up unworthy. Right now, you''re almost perfect, except for the matter of your inferiority."


    "But how? Evin''s bing stronger and stronger by the days, and I''m here stuck trying to make my single World act like all the Worlds," Arza let out.


    The smile on the Serpent disappeared, and Arza could feel it invading his mind again.


    [YOU CALL THAT WEAKLING STRONG?! SURE HE GREW BY A LOT IN THESE FEW YEARS, BUT NEVER IN MY LIFE I WOULD LET MYSELF BE THREATENED BY THAT BOY, LET ALONE THE BEAST LORD BEHIND HIM!] the thundering voice shouted.


    Arza clutched his head in pain, but the barrage wasn''t over yet.


    [AND YOU! YOU PURSUE THE PATH OF THE ONE WORLD, BUT YOU SORELY LACK CONFIDENCE IN IT! HOW SHOULD I INTERPRET THAT? CHASING THE ONE WORLD MEANS ENTRUSTING EVERYTHING TO IT! YOUR EFFORTS, YOUR FOCUS AND THE ENTIRETY OF YOUR LIFE!]


    "Shut up!" Arza shouted, clutching his drumming head.


    Trying to mend his beat up body, Arza wasn''t able to notice what was happening around him and what the torso''s mouth was muttering.


    The countless snakes that slithered around the caves started to gather around Arza, excruciatingly inserting themselves into his body.

 Chapter 208: The situation

    Chapter 208: The situation


    "But the solution to that problem is simple. After all, you just have to be stronger," the torso spoke for the Beast Lord.


    If Arza could see the World Sprite, he would be able to see that the previously simple and broken-doll-like figure was bing more and more featured, with the rugged face of a man slowly growing out of the half-head which only possessed a mouth and a toned upper bodying into life under the neck.


    But obviously, the boy was too focused on the changes that were happening inside his body. The pink snakes had turned to small pink strands after they entered his body, recing his muscles and sinews with tissues that birthed pure Life energy.


    Although they didn''t go as far as to rece his blood and bones, Arza could feel that these new muscles were more than sturdy enough to protect the inner parts of his body. It was like he was developing an armor of fortified flesh to protect his organs and bones.


    Arza felt that he would''ve enjoyed this process a lot more if it wasn''t for the pangs of pain that ceaselessly assaulted every part of his body.


    "epting the Sprites of the World of Life is not something so carefree and easy like the Dark World and the World of Space. After all, they''re energy that will apany you forever, strengthening and incorporating themselves into your body. Usually, I would have you prepare properly for this act, since even the slightest rejection might destroy your body... But luckily for you, or should I say unluckily, your body is just strong enough to ept the World Sprites, though not strong enough to ept it without pain," the torso-shaped World Sprite was speaking next to Arza.


    The boy groaned back, clearly unable to focus on whatever the World Sprite was speaking.


    "Well, you''ll be fine in an hour or so. It''s not that much different from what happened to us," the man''s rugged face smiled wryly, as he silently observed the boy struggling on the ground.


    "Guys, calm down and gather on me! Come to me and I''ll fix you up for you," Evin, on the other hand, was trying his best to calm the group of children that had just awakened inside his shadow.


    He had given Runa to Rith, so the skinshifter didn''t need to witness whatever was happening inside Evin''s shadow.


    After Rith and Ssatsko brough him out of the big open space underground, he had jumped inside his shadow to deal with the problem at hand.


    His hands were on Enri''s nape, his eyes searching for misced lumps of foreign souls on Enri''s body. In his eagle eyes, the giant fox looked like some kind of tumor riddled dog, with parts of her body inted like a balloon.


    He would mercilessly cut off such lumps with his soul-tethered weapon and have it absorb them, just like how Anna''s experience on fixing souls told him to.


    Thankfully, the World Sprites didn''t feel pain, so cutting off the excess bits of souls on the giant fox''s body did not warrant any retaliating reactions. Evin was thankful for this fact, as he was very sure that he wouldn''t be able to keep a struggling Enri in check when he was hacking away at her body.


    [Mother? Who is my mother? What''s happening?] Enri''s growls resounded inside Evin''s head, a thickyer of confusion in her voice.


    ''Good, at least she''s starting to call me mother now,'' Evin thought hopefully. This meant that whatever he was doing was working. He just hoped it wouldn''t have any long term side-effects. After all, Enri wasn''t the only one experiencing the same thing.


    [Where is this ce?]


    [I''m alive?]


    [Who''s this fox in my head?]


    [Why am I a child again?]


    A variety of thoughts were going off inside Evin''s head, all of them confused and puzzled about one thing or another.


    ''Shit'' Evin thought, as he debated knocking out all of them. But thinking about it, he decided that there mighttent problems, so all he could do was heal them one by one.


    A couple minutester, Evin was finally done with healing Enri''s soul and the giant fox was finally starting to act like her previous self. Though obviously, she was much smarter and more ''real'' than before.


    [Mother? What''s happening?] Enri asked, looking around the rest of her brethren with confusion and panic.


    "Don''t worry, I''ll fix them in no time. But I need you to keep them in ce while I heal them, alright?" Evin answered and Enri nodded unconfidently.


    Evin then caught another World Sprite that had assumed the form of a young boy, which looked back at Evin with a pair of curious eyes, a hint of recognition in his gaze.


    But in Evin''s eyes, there was a giant flesh-like lump located right on the boy''s head, which made him look like he had another head stacked right on top of his original one. Evin then held him down and resolutely shed the lump off the boy''s head.


    "Aaahhh! Nooo!" the boy screamed suddenly, startling Evin who was under the impression that the Sprites didn''t feel any pain. After all, Enri didn''t show any reactions, so the rest should''ve been the same as well.


    But he didn''t let himself panic too much, and started to think about why such a thing was happening.


    When Evin was exposed to the field of Soul Magic, the World Sprites were simrly affected along him. Evin was a bit surprised when he got out of Four''s World to see the World Sprites developing a soul all on their own. At the time, he just considered it an unexpected boon, so he didn''t really expect things to develop in such a weird manner.


    What he didn''t realize at the time, was that bits and pieces of the souls that he absorbed in Four''s World somehow ended up inside Evin''s shadow, infecting andtching onto the World Sprites.


    He also realized that unlike Enri, who had a much stronger identity due to the Vulpine Mother''s direct influence, these World Sprites'' existences were much simpler and weaker. So obviously, they would be more influenced by these foreign souls.


    For example, in Enri''s case, her soul was almost 99% her own, with the rest being something foreign. This was the reason why she didn''t mind it much when Evin was hacking away at the lumps on her body. But in the case of the World Sprites, only 90% of their souls could be called their own, while the rest were foreign elements. So naturally, they would mind it a lot more if Evin was to hack away at these excess lumps.


    90% seemed like it was good enough, but if one found out that only 9/10 of their personality was themselves, and that the rest of it was a total stranger, then they would surely feel some amount of existential dread.


    ''But I''m sure that if those souls didn''ttch onto the World Sprites, they wouldn''t even develop independent souls. And even if they did, they''d most likely be identical with each other,'' a random thought appeared in his head.


    Shaking his head, he focused on the boy he had just probably mutted. Blocking out all the other thoughts that were running rampant inside his shadow, he tried his best to listen to what the boy was saying.


    [stop]


    [mother]


    [sorry]


    ''Is it working?'' Evin thought, recognizing the simple thoughts that he usually heard from the World Sprites.


    Evin found it a bit weird that the boy was still thinking such simple thoughts, even though technically, he was supposed to be smart enough to have moreplicated thoughts. While he was wondering what he should do, Enri sniffed the coal-ck boy whimpering on the ground and said to Evin.


    [I think this one''s healed.]


    Evin was pulled out of his daze and realized that there were 80 other World Sprites that he needed to help.


    ''Should I just cut the lumps off and hope for the best? If I don''t hurry, the foreign souls might take over the World Sprites'' personas...'' Evin could only hope that the giant fox was right and started resolutely cutting off the tumor-like lumps on the children''s bodies.


    "They''re gonna feel some pain, but I guess we just have to get this over with as soon as possible," Evin said resolutely and the two began their work.

 Chapter 209: The wait

    Chapter 209: The wait


    Half an hourter, Evin was sitting between a group of sobbing children, making sure that there weren''t any excess lumps left on their bodies using his eagle eyes.


    [mother]


    [sorry]


    The children chimed, thinking that they were being hurt because they did something bad. Evin could only try his best to reassure them that they didn''t do anything wrong, that it was his fault that they were hurting like this.


    He and Enri were walking aroundforting the children one by one. He nned to make up for the World Sprites afterwards, but for the time being, he was just happy that the incident was over.


    [I think they''re all normal again, Evin,] Enri reassured, her face contorting a bit as she called Evin by her name.


    Although Evin trusted the fox, he wanted to make sure that everything was alright. His mind was also preupied with a variety of other thoughts and spections.


    ''Maybe it was good if I let the lumps merge with the World Sprites through a less severe method? After all, the only one who seems smarterpared to before is Enri''


    Evin knew that the big fox had be smarter because he asked her to stop calling him mother and start calling him by his name. And so far, she was sticking to it pretty well. Evin obviously tried to have Enri do this before, but after a few minutes, the fox would be back to calling Evin mother again.


    It was a bit of a flimsy proof that Enri had be smarter, but it was proof nheless.


    But Evin couldn''t really say the same for the others. After Evin finished cutting off all the lumps off the World Sprites'' bodies, his shadow which was filled with questions and chatter, had once again returned to its eerie silence, which would asionally chime with the simple thoughts of the World Sprites.


    It was a bit disappointing, but Evin didn''t really have a different option in this situation. After all, he didn''t wish for his shadow to house a bunch of random souls that came from the Age of False Champions.


    ''Well, maybe they would develop slowly, like normal children. After all, I can''t expect everyone to grow up fast like Runa and Enri,'' Evin then thought, looking at theplex appearances that the World Sprites have taken on.


    For a normal person, these children would look like night incarnate with theirpletely ck skins, but to Evin, who could see much better in the dark, they looked just like normal children, with a variety of differing features and characteristics.


    ''But if they were to all be smart, then I''d have to name them all, huh?'' Evin thought with apprehension. Since the dangerous part was over, Evin was letting his mind wander off to random topics.


    [Also, Evin, what happened to this ce?] Enri asked with a grimace, still unused to calling Evin by his name. Truthfully, Evin was also a bit weirded out by how he was being called. He was shocked by how much he was used to beingcalled ''Mother'' by the World Sprites. Shaking his head, he focused on Enri''s question.


    "Rith and I made some small renovations in here. It''s basically a new world, that works simrly to the World I usually live in," Evin exined.


    [What does that mean?] Enri asked.


    Evin tried to reply, but found himself unable to. What did it mean? After all, he really didn''t have any grand ns for this ce. He just found it cool. Perhaps he would find a way to use this ce in the future, but for the time being, he preferred to not give much importance to it.


    ''And besides, if I want to properly develop this ce, I will need a lot of resources as well''


    ''I really need to make another deal with the Cosmics, huh?'' Evin thought.


    ''But it''s such a pain to maintain a proper business Ugh, why can''t they just keep sending me more loan-projects so I can snatch a few for myself and call it my service fee?''


    ''Ah, whatever we''ll worry about thatter.''


    "It means that you guys can live a bit morefortably here, with proper housings and everything," Evin said after the brief pause.


    [Like the town that you live in?] Enri''s eyes seemed to sparkle.


    "Hmm, maybe in the future we''ll have a small town in here, but it''s going to be a mammoth task. And all the residents should be you guys for the foreseeable future, sooo if you didn''t mind living in my shadows before, then you probably wouldn''t feel much of a difference," Evin said. Realizing that he was spewing out some insensitive stuff, he hurriedly continued.


    "But it''s not like living morefortably will hurt anyone, so I''ll do my best to create a proper living space here."


    Enri giant head smiled slightly upon hearing that, showing her excitement for the future. Evin had a good look at the fox''s body, weirdly astonished by its growth.


    "Now that I look at you, you''ve certainly grown big, huh? Who would''ve thought you were just a flying head with a smokey trailing out of your neck," hemented.


    [Yes, and also, developing a body seemed to make me much smarter as well,] Enri replied.


    "In any case, I''ll leave you here for a bit. Arza was also going through some stuff and I''ll check upon the others as well," Evin said and willed himself out of his shadows.


    Inside the wooden cave, Evin could see Rith and Ssatsko silently sitting on some bump with amp, doing nothing in particr. Ssatsko was admiring the scenery around, while Rith looked at Evin with a worried face, noticing that he had just appeared.


    "Is everything okay?"


    "Yeah, Enri and the rest had just woken up and there was a little incident, but it should be fine now," Evin said and asked, looking at the pile of pink snakes that were blocking the entrance to the big open space: "What happened with Arza?"


    "Ssatsko thinks that Arza''s absorbing the World Sprites into his body. The amount of World Sprites around is have lessened greatly and we could see a bunch of them sliding through the wall of snakes," Rith exined.


    "Now that you mention it, there really are a lot of World Sprites here, huh? Back in the Vulpine Mother''s cave, wasn''t there only about 300 or so?" Evin wondered.


    "It''s probably because the Serpent rules the entirity of this forest and also the fact that there''s a town close by as well, with who knows how many mages casting World of Life spells daily," Rith exined.


    Evin found the exnation usible so he didn''t dwell on it a lot.


    "I had some suspicions that the boy would be epted by the Guardian of the forest, but I still find it so surprising now that it actually happened," Ssatsko said with an awe-inspiring tone.


    "I''m quite surprised as well. Now that I think about it, all of this wouldn''t be possible without you, huh?" Evin smiled at Ssatsko, impressed at the man''s knowledge of such ces.


    "For the Vulpine Mother''s den, it was just something that my father once showed me. I feel like a lot of families keep simr secrets, you know? As for me finding this ce through my horns, I''m pretty sure there are at least a dozen other who''ve stumbled upon this ce in the same manner I did," Ssatsko replied with a chuckle.

 Chapter 210: Problem of funds

    Chapter 210: Problem of funds


    "But I bet you never would''ve thought that you would witness two of them to actually find hosts, right?" Rith said with a smile, to which the old man could only smile wryly.


    "Oh yeah, Rith, wasn''t I going to meet a Beast Lord of the World of Space?" Evin asked, suddenly remembering what the Cosmics promised him.


    "That will happen in due time, don''t worry about it," Rith replied with a smile.


    ''That smile is a bit suspicious, but I''ll let it slide,'' Evin thought.


    Rith then gave Runa back to Evin, and thetter sent the skinshifter into his shadow, so she could converse with the rest of the World Sprites, who were recovering gradually. Then the three chatted for a bit, with Evin and Rith drinking their daily coffee, before Evin remembered that he had a few questions he had for Rith.


    "By the way, Rith, I wanted to ask you this, but are there Mana Complexes for spellcasting purposes only?" he asked.


    "Definitely Though, why do you need it?" Rith asked.


    "To keep my defensive measures up at all times," Evin answered.


    "Ah, makes sense. If that''s so, then you''re probably going to have to create one yourself," Rith said like it was the most natural thing in the World.


    "And how does one create such things, again?" Evin asked back, hoping that the Cosmic would rify things a bit better.


    "You can ask Nasst when you get back. Or if you don''t mind waiting, then you can learn it in the Academy," Rith instructed.


    "Alright, but can I ask why you can''t teach me?"


    "It''s because I don''t have the authority to allow it," Rith shrugged and exined a bit: "What do you think the biggest difference between a Mana Complex and just a pile of Lodestones?"


    "I don''t know It''s rechargeability?" Evin answered unsurely.


    "Yes, and why do you think a Mana Complex Recharges so quickly?" Rith asked, making Evin think a bit.


    "Ah, is it because they''re connected to those ces that are rich with mana?" Evin asked.


    "Yep. See, you can realize some things if you use your brain a bit," Rith chuckled.


    "Is that why they''re so expensive?"


    "Yep. There are actually very few ces in the World who can provide you with near endless amounts of mana. Naturally, countries and organizations try their best to take control of such ces. Sure there are some powerful individuals who own such ces, but obviously, they''d rather use them themselves, instead of sharing with random mages, no?"


    "But why did you tell me to learn how to create one myself?"


    "Because if you''re learning to create one yourself, you probably own the rights to one of such ces," Rith said tly.


    "I''m guessing those cost a pretty penny, huh?"


    "Oh, definitely. Obviously, our Group owns quite a few, but even I feel ufortable when I think of owning one."


    "How much would it cost if I were to purchase one?"


    "Since it''s only to keep your spells working, I don''t think the base price will be too much perhaps 30k to 40k depending on its capacity. But since you already own another Manaplex, its price will be doubled and there will also be a time limit attached to it as well."


    Evin was once again stuck on the problem of money. At this point, he just had to do something about the problem.


    "Alright. One more question. Are there any more loan-projects that you guys have for me? It''s been a while since thest time it happened, I believe," Evin said.


    "Oh, about that Well, don''t worry about those for the time being. From what I understand, they''re preparing a few big ones for you," Rith smiled mysteriously.


    "Alright" Evin said.


    After a small pause he continued with an ''ehehe''.


    "Is the Elmes group facing any problemstely? Anything that might need consulting and help maybe a failed project or two that was stuck for a while?"


    Rith, as a Cosmic, was obviously keen on noticing such things so she immediately caught on what Evin was trying to do.


    "What is this? You''re trying to sell us another idea?" she purred with satisfaction.


    "Well, something tells me that I''ll be needing a lot of money in the near future, so" Evin said and let the Cosmic figure out the rest.


    "Well, sadly for you, we are not facing any life-threatening problems for now. It''s mostly because we''re still trying to digest the one giant problem that you''ve brought upon us. Although the people are loving the idea of a bank, the ruling ss is definitely not happy with what''s urring right now. After all, we''re gobbling up most of the money that the people usually leave to rot or spend buying random stuff, lessening their dependency on the countries."


    "So they''re trying to ban you out?" Evin asked curiously.


    "They''ve tried to introduce a variety of regtions against banks but they''re toote at this point. If they acted a bit sooner, maybe they would''ve been able to achieve something, but they only acted after literally everyone was exposed to the conveniences that our banks brought. If they push for it more than they currently are, they''re going to receive a lot of bacsh," Rith said proudly.


    Hearing that the banks were doing great, Evin''s heart stung a bit. If he was a bit pushier with the percentages, he definitely wouldn''t be thinking of making money like this now. He would probably be wondering how he should spend it all.


    Though he really couldn''t me the Cosmics, as the fault mostly lied with himself.


    After all, if some dumb kid came at him and basically gave him free money, he would''ve taken it without question. Especially if he was some kind of being that put profit as the highest priority.


    ''But I really didn''t have a choice back then After all, I was just some lone kid who was trying to impulsively strike a deal with a bunch of talking cats, who basically controlled the World''s market. I was almost even happy that they even bothered to listen to me talk about my offer,'' Evin thought self-depreciatingly.


    ''Nheless, things are different now. Now I have proper backing and I''m pretty strong myself. Even Authorities fawn over me depending on their mood,'' Evin allowed himself a victorious smile.


    But regretting his past actions and then feeling good about himself didn''t change the fact that Evin needed to sell an idea to the Cosmics.


    Some might tell Evin to just start a promising business himself and then take control of it, but Evin was obviously toozy to bother with that.


    ''I want money, but if it forces me to work any harder than a certain amount, I would rather just give up and try to create gold through alchemy or some shit''


    Evin wondered if a case of magically created currencies ever happened in the history of the Empire. After all, Earth''s history was riddled with such attempts. Evin wouldn''t find it surprising if some great mage of the World of Earth was able to create gold out of nothing.

 Chapter 211: Paper money

    Chapter 211: Paper money


    Weirdly, Evin''s attention was strongly drawn to this idea of producing gold. His instincts were telling him that it could be very profitable depending on the situation. After a few minutes inside the World of Thoughts, he finally found a potential solution.


    ''Wait! I can have them print money!'' Evin thought excitedly, finally seeing light at the end of the tunnel.


    ''Wait, but how am I going to profit from this myself? Do I just sell the idea for gold? How much would this idea cost anyway? Wait, shit, how did paper money work in the first ce?''


    Immediately, his brain began to work on the problem at hand, approaching the problem from a variety of angles. But as he was brainstorming, some changes began to appear to the wall of Pink Snakes.


    "I think Arza''sing out," Ssatsko said from the side as well. Evin then put away his ideas regarding paper money and focused on whatever was happening now.


    The torso which was representing the Serpent was slowly floating out of the big open space, carrying an unconscious Arza in its hands. Through his sharp eyes, Evin was able to see that the boy was still breathing, so his mind didn''t immediately jump to the worst conclusion.


    Instead, he was more interested in another detail. Evin could notice that the previously simple torso had be much more detailed and alivepared to before.


    Whereas before, the World Sprite only had half of a chest and half of a head connected by a thin neck, now it was a proper upper body of some muscr man. The only part that was missing was the whole lower body.


    ''Since when are World Sprites so detailed and life-like?'' Evin couldn''t help but wonder.


    "The boy will wake up after a day''s rest. Make sure toe here every year. Now leave," the World Sprite instructedzily and threw Arza''s sleeping figure to Ssatsko, who hurriedly caught the boy.


    "Thank you, Great Guardian," Ssatsko then replied.


    The other seemed to smile a bit before dispersing into a group of pink spheres, which flew deeper into the wooden cave.


    Evin took another good look at Arza, noticing the various new details that weren''t apparent before. His almost shining skin, his more muscr body shape, the asional sparks of energy that burst out of the boy''s body


    Evin could tell that Arza had be much stronger than before. He knew that the day when he wouldn''t be able to easily deal with Arza wasing.


    ''Ugh, what a pain'' he couldn''t help but think.


    A bit after the World Sprite had disappeared, Evin broke the silence.


    "Uhh, so I''m guessing the Beast Lord failed to assimte with him?"


    "The Serpent probably had some of the World Sprites merge with Arza for the time being, slowly getting Arza used to his powers. Pretty sure the boy would die if he tried fusing with the Beast Lord now," Rith exined.


    "Ah, I suppose that''s true," Evin said and thought of the Vulpine Mother, who only required him to be a decent enough half-core and have a little stronger of a body. He also remembered how Nasst told him about different Worlds having different ways of assimting its World Sprites in a mage''s body.


    "Well, we''ll worry about itter. For now, let''s go back to town," Rith said and started working on a portal.


    A minuteter, the group was floating towards Smallwall town from outside it.


    "Why do you always create portals outside towns? Is it just because of safety?" Evin asked.


    "Yes. Although normal portals aren''t lethal to non-mages, but when a portal appears it creates a small shockwave around it. So it''s been a custom to not create portals in a ce where there might be a lot of people," Rith exined.


    Another few minutester, the group had just finished delivering Arza to Liza and exining that the boy just needed to rest a bit before he woke up. Liza seemed a bit unconvinced, but she really couldn''t see anything wrong with the boy, except for the fact that he was looking considerably more healthypared to before, so she bid the group farewell.


    After Evin came back home, he started to work on the letter he was supposed to give to Earl Borna, so he could peacefully focus on the matter of paper money afterwards.


    After he finished describing the details of his battle-mode, Evin''s mind wandered off a bit, and he decided to give Be a gift of some sorts.


    ''Though, what should I give her'' he thought idly, wondering about the things he possessed.


    A dimension, a group of World Sprites, a pile of sorbothium, some soul-rted things, a considerable amount of money, a variety of weapons, books rting to magic, pile of misceneous things and personal possessions


    ''Maybe I could give her that book about illusions?'' Evin thought of a possible gift. After all, Nasst told him to do whatever he wanted with the books.


    "I should find a gift for the other two sisters as well, huh?" Evin thought of Arelyn and Olevyn. He remembered a lot about the three sister as they left such a big impression on Evin. He even named Lyn, Vyn and Ayn after the sisters.


    Evin didn''t really dislike the two elder sisters for bullying their youngest, as he felt that a lot of the problems in that house stemmed from the Earl himself. Most problems in families originated from the ipetence of the parents, after all.


    The Earl who would rather turn a blind eye to any and all problems inside the house was a prime example of that. If the man decided to not take such a passive approach, maybe the sisters were going to get along better.


    Evin felt that a proper conversation could save a lot of trouble for families and just people who lived together. After all, most arguments stemmed from misunderstandings or conflicts of belief. If the two sides were willing topromise and get along with each other, then they didn''t really mind ignoring a few differences.


    He also felt like that was a necessary quality to have as a leader. Evin really didn''t know how the man managed to keep his position as an Earl under the strict management of Northern Duchess vd. But it wasn''t like Evin experienced the Duchess'' strictness himself, so he couldn''t really be sure of anything on that topic.


    ''Maybe he''s just good at following orders,'' Evin thought and let the matter fly out of his head. He still had to find gifts for the sisters.


    "Guess I''ll go shopping a bit," Evin decided after thinking a bit.


    He informed his family and started walking towards the shopping district.

 Chapter 212: Nostalgia

    Chapter 212: Nostalgia


    As Evin walked about the streets of Smallwall town, periodically, some people woulde to pester him about this and that, until eventually, he decided to shroud himself in a veil of illusions. He expected to be spotted by some mages, but guessed that they should get the hint from what Evin was doing and how he looked like.


    He then idly walked through the shopping streets for 1st grade citizens wondering what teenage girls liked in these times. Countless dresses and essories shed past his eyes, some of them even from the projects that the Cosmics had him evaluate. Weirdly, none of them seemed good enough in Evin''s eyes, as he preferred to simply walk around aimlessly, enjoying the feeling of being ignored by the World.


    He somehow ended up loitering around for almost an hour doing nothing in particr. Most of this time was spent chasing around a little girl who seemed to be lost. The girl was about 8 or 9, maybe even 10, her burgundy hair done in a twin-tail. In any case, the reason Evin was following her around was because she acted in a very interesting way even though she seemed to be lost. The girl didn''t cry for her parents and didn''t make a fuss. She put on a brave front and walked around the bustling crowd, her eyes searching for someone. Evin saw her tiny hands shake a bit, when she thought she was alone, but she would instantly toughen up when an adult seemed to take notice of her.


    Why did she not seek the adult''s help and why was she adamant on putting up such a brave front, Evin didn''t know. He could tell that she was from a wealthy enough family considering the high-quality cotton dress she was wearing and also the fact that this area was reserved for 1st grade citizens. Evin also had a feeling that the girl was a mage, but he couldn''t really be certain of it. After all, he didn''t really know how to scan another with a World of Life spell. He could probably do it if he tried hard enough, but he didn''t wish to be found out and startle the girl.


    And besides, he didn''t care if the girl was a mage or not, he was more interested in finding out why she acted in such a way. Perhaps she was raised to be independent, or maybe she was just someone who was naturally shy. In any case, Evin was properly invested in this random girl. He wanted to find out what would happen to her and what her reaction would be when she finally found whoever she was searching for. He wondered what would happen to the girl if she never found the person she lost. Would her tough girl faade finally disappear and she would break down?


    Some part of him was also expecting to see some shady personnel to take notice of her and try to take her away, but the chances of such things happening was infinitesimally low, considering the area they were currently loitering around.


    But eventually, the girl''s eyes finally seemed to find the one she was looking for. Evin followed her gaze and saw a tall, well-dressed woman who was idly sitting on a bench, a small book in one hand and a wooden cup of something in the other one.


    ''Quite calm for someone who lost her alleged child,'' Evin thought and looked back at the girl.


    A smile of relief appeared on the girl''s face for a moment before it was reced with an apprehensive frown. She fixed her ruffled clothing and slowly approached the woman.


    ''Oh'' Evin thought with amusement, wondering what would happen next.


    "Mother," the girl voiced, almost unsurely.


    Seemingly understanding that she was being called, the woman slowly turned her gaze from the book and looked at the girl with confusion.


    "Who? Me? Who are you??" she suddenly said, a genuine look of surprise on her face.


    ''What?'' Evin''s curiosity spiked when he heard the woman''s words.


    The girl, on the other hand, seemed used to such answers as she slowly, and carefully reached for the woman''s hands, her eyes warily observing the woman''s body, evidently expecting something terrible to happen.


    Evin''s heart was filled with tension as he witnessed this moment from the sidelines. The girl''s hands reached the woman''s and a look of painful confusion filled the woman''s face. A momentter, as if nothing had happened, she looked at the girl holding her hands and smiled widely.


    "Oh sweetheart, there you are," she said and hugged her child, dropping the cup and book she was holding in the process.


    "Let''s go home, mother," the girl sighed in relief, as she hugged the woman back.


    The girl then walked away, holding her mother''s hand in one hand, while hugging cup and book in the other.


    Evin was dying to follow behind the two, but he managed to stop himself from doing so.


    ''I''ve had my fill of fun, so I should stop for today. Maybe I''ll strike up a conversation if I ever meet her again,'' he thought resolutely.


    ''Well, now I know why she was so bold with her actions. Turns out that she wasn''t the one lost'' Evin guessed that the woman was ill in the head with something, and that she was separated from the girl when the two were out walking.


    He could see that the girl was used to taking care of her mother, and that there were probably scenes where the mother isn''t so peaceful, judging from the tension-filled moment when she was reaching out for her hand,


    Evin''s head went on a chain of spections about the girl and her mother, lighting up his curiosity even further.


    ''Now that I think about it, this is almost exactly the same as what I did as a spirit, huh?'' he thought almost nostalgically, once again realizing how much he needed some alone time. He definitely wouldn''t have done something like this if he was walking with Rith or Ssatsko.


    Thinking of his new life, Evin realized that ever since he was born, he was constantly surrounded by others, never really finding the chance to reflect on his own self. And technically, this hour he spent stalking the girl he wasn''tpletely alone, since he had the World Sprites in his shadow. But he had blocked them out for the time being, so it was the best alone time he could have for himself.


    ''Weird how I sometimes miss my days on Earth,'' Evin never thought he would think this but he really missed some parts of being a spirit.


    ''Only some parts of it, though''


    Shaking his head, Evin went to a shop to do what he actually came here to do.


    Since he really wasn''t confident in his gift buying skills, he decided to choose a random shop and just ask the shop owner for help.

 Chapter 213: A small misunderstanding

    Chapter 213: A small misunderstanding


    Evin got rid of his illusions and entered an empty hat shop. The shopkeeper seemed to be a bald old man, who was deeply engrossed with a hat on his desk. Hearing the door open, he looked over and found Evin.


    "Are you lost, little boy?" he said, an awfully fake smile on his face.


    "I wanted to buy a hat, and I was wondering if you could help me," Evin replied, sounding as mature as he could.


    "Really? And tell me, with what are you going to buy any hat?" the old man replied, with a cynical, almost mocking smile on his face.


    ''Shit, I''m really d I didn''t go physically old as a spirit,'' Evin thought, but decided to be patient with the elder. He was sure any other store would treat him the same, unless he unted his Mage Seal around.


    "Please don''t worry about money," Evin said and brought out a sack of golden coins from his Storage Ring and jingled it a bit.


    The old man''s face turned serious after seeing the magic that Evin performed and put down the hat he was working on.


    "What kind of hat are you looking for, young mage?" he asked, all serious now.


    "One for a 14 or so year old girl and another girl between who''s either 11 or 12, I can''t quite remember," Evin said.


    "Is that so, then may I interest you in this hat over here," the old man began to talk, unting his extensive knowledge of hats.


    The old man was almost abnormally fashion savvy and was extremely helpful to Evin who was like a cavemanpared to the old man when it came to matters of style.


    In the end, he bought something akin to a white muffin hat for the Olevyn, a ck cotton bo for Arelyn and headed towards the Earl''s mansion.


    ''Finally''


    Although Evin''s incident with the girl took some time, it was still the afternoon, so he could definitely pay a visit to the Earl''s mansion before the day ended. At worst, he could set up an appointment forter.


    A few minutester he appeared in front of the Earl''s mansion.


    But he could notice that something was different this time: the mansion seemedpletely empty and unattended. He knew that the servants of the Earl couldn''t be called the best around town, but they at least pretended to work in front of the Earl himself.


    ''Surely, the Earl wouldn''t let things get to this state,'' Evin walked towards the mansion''s gates, wondering what happened.


    Sure enough, the doors were locked shut and Evin couldn''t hear a single sounding from inside the property.


    He searched around for a guard and asked about the Earl''s whereabouts.


    "Oh, the Lord''s moved to outside the city, to his winter mansion," the guard exined and told Evin that it was on the outskirts of the forest.


    Evin didn''t wish to waste any time so he promptly made himself invisible and flew towards said mansion. Twenty minutester, he found the ce hidden behind a thick group of trees, surrounded by arge fence.


    As he was thinking why would anyone prefer to spend winter in the forest instead of the town, he saw an array of Earthen needles flying at his way with respectable speed. It wasn''t anything too special, so Evin could understand that it was just a warning shot.


    ''Hmm,'' Evin thought and dove down to dodge. He then activated his eagle eyes to see who was firing at him and saw a short ashen-haired man, standing under a tree, ring at him with a pair of deeply judging eyes. Evin didn''t bother to throw any spells back and simply flew towards an open area, keeping an eye on the mage who just targeted him.


    The other didn''t seem interested in bombarding Evin anymore, perhaps learning that Evin was interested in talking things out.


    Evinnded on the ground and removed his illusions and walked towards the direction of the mansion, expecting the mage toe and greet him. Just like he imagined, the mage came over on a floating rock tform, with two other mages floating next to him: a droopy-eyed middle-aged woman with ponytails and a young male with a sharp chin who was riding on a rock tform as well.


    Evin took another good look at the man in the middle with his eagle eyes and saw that the man was somehow managing to meet his eyes head on.


    ''Can he actually see my features?'' Evin thought and noted down the man''s appearance in his head: short ashen hair: sharp, almost hollow eyes, a slightly curved longsword on his side and an array of pellets constantly floating near him.


    "State your business," the young mage asked aftering close enough to Evin. At least the man wasn''t treating him like a child, so Evin could be happy about that.


    "I''m here to deliver a personal item to Earl Borna," Evin said, not wishing to tell them that it was a letter describing a spell.


    "And what would that personal item be? A knife to his damn throat?" he continued his questions.


    "This is just a misunderstanding," Evin calmly denied the usation.


    "Then why would you fly at the mansion, disguised under an illusion?" the young man asked again.


    "I don''t like attention, so I usually move about like this. If you don''t believe me, you can check my Seal," Evin replied perfunctorily and waved his Mage Seal in the air.


    "A Northerner?" the man in the middle muttered, reaffirming Evin''s suspicions about the man''s incredible eyesight.


    "My mother''s from the North, but I was born in the town close by," Evin exined.


    The man paused a bit, unhurriedly eyeing Evin with silence. Evin didn''t mind the pause, but he was ready to fight if the need came to be. A whileter, the man in the middle spoke:


    "So be it. But you can''t meet the Earl today, you need to announce your arrival at least three days in advance."


    "Alright, then I''lle back in three days, is that fine?" Evin asked.


    "You want us to act as pageboys to do your bidding?" the young man snorted.


    "Sorry, uh, should I fly over to the mansion and tell them that I''ll being back in three days, then?" Evin asked, genuinely confused about what he was supposed to do.


    The droopy-eyed female smiled a bit, and replied in the group''s stead.


    "We''ll inform the Earl about your arrival in three days, don''t worry about it. Though, who should I refer when I speak to him?" she offered and brushed off the re from the other mage.


    "Eviendra. If he doesn''t remember me, then perhaps Beyn will," Evin said, receiving a knowing smile from the female.

 Chapter 214: Appointment

    Chapter 214: Appointment


    "Alright, when will you being?" the woman asked, an odd glint appearing in her eyes.


    "Perhaps in the afternoon. I''ll be off on my way after delivering the thing, so you really don''t have to make a fuss about it all," Evin said.


    "Hmm, I''m afraid the Earl will be busy around that time How about youe during lunch? Maybe you can spend some time with the family as well." the woman replied, clearly expecting something else to happen Something spicy.


    Evin wasn''t going to try and clear up this little misunderstanding, as he knew that the woman would most likely ignore his protests, or take them as bashfulness. Besides, the mage seemed bored enough with the job of guarding the Earl''s mansion, so Evin didn''t mind letting her amuse herself with something for the time being.


    He then thanked the three mages and started flying back to town. On the air, he nced towards the mansion''s grounds and noticed that there were a lot of guards loitering around the ce. As far as he could tell, there was a handful of mages as well.


    ''I guess it''s natural for an Earl to have such defenses, but why was his mansion in town so emptypared to here?'' Evin wondered, thinking of thest time he visited the Earl.


    Last time, there were some guards and maybe a few mages, but they didn''t seem at all threatening to Evin.


    ''Perhaps I was simply too weak at the time to notice?''


    ''No, those three mages were definitely much more threatening than any half-assed mage I ever fought, especially the white-haired one'' Evin thought.


    He knew that the mages he fought were all pretty weak. So maybe those three were mages who were actually properly trained like he and Arza was? After all, the man was keen enough to recognize Evin''s illusions, so he should''ve taken a nce at the Western Compendium of Illusions or its equivalent.


    After thinking about the matter a bit, Evin realized that he really didn''t know how mage hierarchy worked. ording to Nasst, he was supposed to wipe the floor with most of them, but Evin wasn''tpletely convinced with that statement. Perhaps he would have a better understanding if he fought more mages.


    Mulling over the problem, he eventually arrived home.


    As per usual, he didn''t bother to greet his family andnded directly in his room through the window. After getting rid of his clothes and boots, he plopped onto the bed with a soft moan.


    "Alright Now I only need to worry about paper money and Sasha," he sighed and decided to take a small nap.


    The next three days he spent practicing his magic, thinking about the problem of paper money and how to best sell it to the Cosmics, observing what the World Sprites were doing, and watching how Sasha was acting.


    Thankfully, the girl was starting to get used to Evin''s existence, and would asionally loiter around Evin''s room, perhaps wanting to talk. But Evin didn''t wish to hurry on the girl and decided to talk to her before leaving.


    As for the World Sprites, Evin was very excited about their development. Most of the time they seemed to be the same old World Sprites, but asionally they would show incredible likeness to human babies.


    Evin was sure that they became smarterpared to the past and that it was just a matter of time before the started to show their increased intelligence. He instructed Runa and Enri to talk with the World Sprites consistently, so they could develop faster as well.


    Another thing that Evin finished was the matter of paper money. It took some time since Evin was having trouble finding methods to make profit from it himself. After all, he knew that the Countries would eventually barge in and take matters into their own hand. The same thing happened withmercial banknotes slowly being reced by national banknotes back on Earth.


    Evin was a bit skeptical of this fact, because the Cosmics were much more powerful than any bank back on Earth, so maybe another series of events would ur here but Evin didn''t wish to take the risk. And besides, he eventually found a way to make guaranteed money, so he wasn''t very worried. And now, he just had to speak to Rith about it.


    But considering the Cosmic''s state today and the fact that he had to go and meet the Earl, Evin decided to postpone the talk forter.


    He was currently preparing for his departure, alongside Lora and Theor, who were making sure that he was properly dressed for the asion.


    "What time were you supposed to go over there?" Theor asked from the side.


    "Just before lunch, actually, so I should probably be going now," Evin said.


    "Alright, thankfully, the clothes I bought fit you well. Oh Empress above, don''t worry your mother like this," Lora said from the side, scrutinizing the dark blue clothing that Evin was currently wearing.


    "Mother, I am technically older than you. I''m pretty sure I don''t need you telling me what to wear when visiting the Earl," Evin retorted.


    A couple days prior, when Evin told the two about his visit to the Earl''s mansion, he was thoroughly chewed up for his casualness in the whole ordeal. Theor and Lora were very passionate about maintaining a proper image when conversing with the people of nobility. So obviously, Evin flying over there with his travel boots and a rugged cloak was dreadfully inadequate.


    And for the record, Evin was still baffled by how the two still talked to Evin like he was actually seven. He also guessed that they were just bullying him for shits and giggles, but since they could be serious about it, he didn''t want to ruin whatever that was going on.


    "See, this is the problem with you. Just because you think these things are pointless, me and your father don''t feel the same. What would you do if the Earl gets secretly mad for your casualness and takes out that anger on us?"


    "Then I shall paint the Earl''s mansion with his blood," Evin replied after thinking a bit. Lora and Theor looked back at him with some wariness, probably wondering if he was actually capable of doing that.


    "Let''s solve these problems peacefully, alright?" Lora said smilingly.


    "Sure, sure. Anyhow, I''ll be leaving then. Please don''t worry about me," Evin said and walked towards the door.


    "Aren''t you going to bring Rith with you?" Theor asked.


    "Why? I''m just going to be delivering a letter for the Earl and maybe meet his daughters if they''re there," Evin replied.


    "I don''t know, it just felt like having a Cosmic with you would be more striking," the man exined with an awkward smile.


    "I''m not really trying to go and impress the Earl, so no. And besides, bringing Rith along in that state would probably achieve the opposite effect," Evin smiled and started floating.


    "I can hear that!" Rith''s groaning voice came from the other room.


    "Go back to sleep. And don''t drink so much alcohol if you can''t take it!" Evin shouted back and flew away.


    Apparently the Cosmic went drinking with her colleagues the previous night, celebrating the end of her observation on Evin. Though she couldn''t handle the thing very well, so she was suffering the next day.


    Evin told her to just fix herself with the World of Life, but the Cosmic was weirdly happy to suffer on her little bed, with pain and agony ravaging her body, all while mocking Evin for even offering such a cowardly solution. Evin didn''t wish to judge the Cosmic so he let her suffer in peace. Thought he couldn''t help himself from throwing a jab or two asionally.

 Chapter 215: A safer home

    Chapter 215: A safer home


    ''Though flying with these clothes are a bit awkward, huh?'' Evin thought, careful not to make any sharp movements as he traversed the air.


    Eventually he reached the Earl''s mansion andnded in front of its gates. A few of the guards eyed him warily, but they seemed to be informed about his arrival, so they didn''t make a fuss.


    A servant came out of a smaller house located in the mansion''s yard, and swiftly jogged towards Evin.


    "Mage Evin?" he then asked politely to which Evin nodded.


    "Please follow me," the servant said and walked in the front.


    ''Hmm, yep. It''s definitely much secure here,'' Evin thought as he walked around the mansion. Serious looking guards patrolled the mansion''s premises in pairs, with the asional mages eyeing Evin with their scrutinizing gazes.


    The servants and maids also seemed to have turned topletely different people from what he saw previously. Solemnity and silence had reced the casual, rxed atmosphere the previous mansion had.


    ''Something pretty serious must''ve happened while I was gone'' Evin thought idly, as he looked around the building.


    "We''re here, the Earl and the youngdies shoulde a bitter. Please call one of the maids if you require anything," the servant said and opened the door to what seemed to be arge dining hall.


    Evin looked inside and saw that the long table was filled with various snacks and delicacies, with a row of maids standing nearby.


    ''Alright, I guess I''m getting a bit of a special treatment. Sigh, I suppose I should mentally prepare for the Earl''s attempts to get me married again,'' Evin thought with amusement.


    There were also three people sitting behind the table already and Evin could recognize the three as the mages who met him three days ago.


    "Oh, the luminary''s finallye," the woman said as her droopy eyes turned into thin curvy slits.


    "Hello again," Evin said and joked as he looked around the table: "It seems the Earl hasn''t forgotten about me yet, or did Be prepare all this for me?"


    "I know, right? The boring old Earl suddenly seemed to be apletely new person when I mentioned your name," the woman said gleefully.


    "Watch your mouth, Lana. The boring old man is your employer," the young man said from the side.


    "Oh, bug off, Clent. The man himself doesn''t seem to mind it so much," the woman named Lana replied.


    The ashen-haired man seemed like he didn''t want to take part in the two''s squabbles, as he silently sat in his chair, watching Evin with a neutral face.


    "I haven''t actually introduced myself properly, huh?" Evin said and gave a short introduction of himself.


    "Oh, I''m Lana, this boy here''s name Clent and our boss here goes by Tsaena," the woman introduced the group.


    "A Northerner?" Evin asked, wondering what the origins of this group was.


    "Yep. Though he''s quite few on words, so I usually have to do the talking for him," Lana sighed.


    "I was wondering what do you three do? I mean, usually," Evin couldn''t help but ask.


    "We''re basically guards for hire and we specialize in protecting big ced like this one. We also offer some other services rting to housekeeping as well. The maids and servants you see around us are also part of our little group," Lana exined.


    ''Then they must be a pretty capable group, huh?'' Evin thought, genuinely impressed by the standard they were setting.


    ''But having mages as strong as them to be your guards seems a bit overkill, I feel''


    "I never would''ve thought such services would be popr. The kingdom seems pretty safe for the most time, especially around these parts," Evin said his honest opinion.


    "Says the boy who flew at an Earl''s mansion covered in illusions," Lana chuckled.


    "Ah, I suppose you''re right," Evinughed awkwardly.


    "Ha-ha, yeah We get that a lot. But it isn''t like safety is 100% guaranteed, you know? A few months ago, apparently one of the servants here was killed suddenly, leading the Earl to seriously consider the safety of his house. Later on, he found that most of the servants and guards were seriously cking off on their jobs, which lead him to consider hiring our business," Lana exined.


    "Oh."


    ''Oh shit'' Evin thought, remembering that one time he poisoned a servant because he thought the man was looking at him funny.


    ''Wait, don''t look remorseful. Just look shocked and amused, or something,'' he hurriedly thought and assumed a pondering pose.


    "How was the servant killed, though?" he asked after a pause that felt a bit too long forfort.


    "Apparently he was poisoned. At first people thought that the man died to some kind of sickness or something, which lead the case to be investigated by a mage. The mageter found out that the mage was poisoned, though he couldn''t tell when exactly was he poisoned. ''Probably at night,'' the mage said, which meant that someone broke into the Earl''s mansion at night, poisoned someone and left without being found out," Lana narrated the story.


    ''Bless you, random mage who sucks at his job,'' Evin thought thankfully.


    Now that he thought about it, there was absolutely no reason to kill a man over some almost baseless suspicions and to do such a sloppy job at it. Even if the man came at himter with a group of like-minded mages, it shouldn''t be too hard for Evin and Rith of that time to repel them.


    "I see. Was the Earl alright, though?" Evin asked in an unassuming tone, hoping to sound as innocent as possible.


    "Yes, obviously, the Earl knew that whoever killed the man wasn''t a mage, because, you know," Lana said, pointing at her heart: "So at first he was just searching for normal guards for hire. Buttely there were many cases of foreign mages being spotted around the kingdom''s territory, forcing some nobles to take the matter of security more seriously."


    "Lana," Tsaena said sternly from the side, startling Evin in the process.


    "Oops, sorry," Lana said, smiling like a child who was caught doing something mischievous.


    A brief silence ensued in the dining hall, as Evin asionally plucked out something from the table, gradually depressing himself by thinking of the poor servant he killed impulsively.


    "By the way, could you tell me why you came to the Earl''s mansion in the first ce?" Lana asked, a cat-like smile on her face.


    Evin wondered for a second if he should tell the truth, before deciding not to.


    ''But if I dodge the question, she''s gonna assume I''m here for Be'' Evin fell into a slight dilemma.


    ''Eh, it wouldn''t hurt me too much to tell the truth'' he decided, thinking of the other oue.


    "The Mage Association told me to give the Earl a little visit," Evin said.


    "Ah, so that''s what it was. If they told you to visit him... then it must be something remarkable. As expected of a Child of the Empress, I suppose," Lana said in a disappointed tone, before mumbling something under her mouth just loud enough to be heard by everyone: "And here I was, all excited to witness a forbidden scandal between an adult in a boy''s body and a little girl"


    ''?''

 Chapter 216: Reformed children

    Chapter 216: Reformed children


    ''Guess she''s just joking,'' Evin thought a bitter and didn''t take thement to heart.


    But inevitably, his mind was pulled towards the topic again.


    ''But to be honest Even if I date someone that''s 20 or something, I''ll still look like a goddamn child molester considering my age No-no-no, that''s fucking stupid. The whole reason why pedophilia is illegal is because it''s a goddamn physiological problem But it also doesn''t feel right even if the two sides are children... which is why me dating someone my physical age is considered a scandal''


    ''I guess it''s also a mental problem since there are cases of young children bing engaged because of their parents and at the end of the day, those children don''t really understant what it means to get married and have children together. They only start realizing the weight of it when they turn into teenagers Though, I guess mage children would start thinking about it a bit earlier, because they''re just smarter. I mean, I''m sure Be knows what those things mean,'' Evin thought with a frown.


    ''And at the end of the day, even if she likes me now, she''ll realize that it''s just a random crush when she bes a teenager. Obviously, if she somehow turns obsessive like Four, then we might have some problems''


    ''But to be honest, Four really isn''t that obsessive. She said she wanted my heart and started digging through my flesh for only once and afterwards she just became aggressive, so I can''t justbel her as a yandere yet. After all, people act weirdly all the time. Even if she was serious I don''t think a rtionship between me and Four would work out, since she usually borrows Twelve''s body,'' Evin pondered, his hands on his chin.


    ''So if I somehow romance Twelve, I guess I just get the whole package?'' Evin frowned again.


    ''What the fuck am I thinking about?'' Evin shook his head and focused on the food.


    There was literally zero reason for him to be worrying about this. Evin was still seven for god''s sake, he should be calling out others pedophiles for trying to make him date someone.


    ''You goddamn pedo!'' Evin shouted at Lana in his head.


    The woman herself didn''t seem to mind the fact that she ruined Evin''s mental state and was just sitting silently with a satisfied smile on her face, watching Evin''s expression change every so often.


    The silence ensued for a few minutes before the door to the dining hall opened and the Earl walked in alongside his daughters.


    There was another old man dressed in a butler''s clothing behind them, a stern look on his face as he nced at the table and the maids around. Behind him a group of servants were carrying a tray filled with food, served on silver tes.


    "Oh, Evin! Didn''t expect to see you so soon! Hmm? Were you always this big? Or has it been so long already?" Velpinughed loudly as he sized Evin up.


    The three girls also seemed surprised to see Evin grown so big in such a short time.


    "Ah, some stuff happened in the North and I aged a bit. Though thanks to that, I can properly rely on my body now, so all''s well that ends well, I suppose," Evin said smilingly as he got up to bow to the Earl alongside the other three mages.


    "Is that so? Really, the world must seem so different to you mages. Every day I get surprised by one thing or another that Be manages to achieve. Truly, I never thought I would feel happy for the existence of Oaths, ahaha," Velpinughed and casually gestured everyone to sit.


    Be sat left of the Earl and next to Lana, while the two other sisters sat opposite of her.


    "I''m also surprised by all the things I learn these days" Evin replied idly, but his attention was on the Earl''s daughters.


    He noticed how Be seemed to smile almost mockingly at her father''s praise, a clear change from how she used to simply ignore him most of the time. The other two sisters also seemed to show some hostility towards their father, while before, they would just be looking at Be with a veiled hate and pity.


    ''What happened here?'' Evin thought curiously, his lips almost unconsciously curling into a smile.


    The lunch went on, with Velpin endlessly droning off about one topic or another, though for some reason, never asking why Evin came to visit him.


    ''Guess I should''ve brought someone else along, to keep the Earl upied But I really don''t know who it should be,'' Evin was a bit annoyed, since he had to constantly dedicate a part of his attention to the Earl''s speech. No one else seemed to be willing to talk to the Earl, as everyone was whispering to each other in their little groups: Lana was bothering Be, while Olevyn and Arelyn were speaking to each other.


    Although Evin was busy entertaining the Earl, he was still more focused on the others, especially Be, who was acting like a bird that was freed from her cage.


    The previously docile and quiet Be, who was never allowed to do anything oundish or wrong was gone, and was reced by a girl who was much more carefree and casual. In the past, the girl would be sitting behind the table with a stiff back, her every move carefully nned and trained. But now, she sat with an almost unconcerned expression on her chair, sighing exaggeratedly at whatever Lana was saying to the girl with a grin.


    And although she acted annoyed by the woman, Evin could see her hiding a smile behind her eyes, the edge of her mouth twitching to hide the fact that she was holding back aughter.


    But Evin couldn''t help but feel that there was something sinister hidden behind her joyful smile. Evin could sometimes see a hint of sadism, or a tinge of viciousness sh past her eyes, as she asionally nced towards her sisters.


    ''Perhaps it''s the earlier signs of sadistic psychopathy? After all, there''s no need for her to pretend anymore and she can finally express herself freely without worrying about what others think of her,'' Evin thought idly and then looked at the elder sisters.


    Olevyn was still as passive as before, idly nodding along to whatever Arelyn said to her. She ate mostly in silence, her small frame seeming even smallerpared to normal, with how tensely she held her whole body together. When her gaze idently fell on the little girl sitting across her, she would hurriedly retract her eyes, a glint of fear briefly shing through them. She would then look at Arelyn with a tinge of pity, a small sigh escaping her mouth asionally.


    However, the biggest change had undoubtedly urred to Arelyn. She was much moreposed and much more properpared to before, where she almost sat in front the table like she was cosying some sort of handbook arrogant youngdy of a house.


    She seemed to be really trying hard to have a proper posture and follow the general rules of etiquette the nobility here had. Evin didn''t know what kind of rules they abided by here, but he definitely knew that they followed something here. But etiquette aside, what was more important was how she interacted with the young mage of the household.


    Every time Be moved even a little bit sharply at the corner of her vision, her body would flinch without her control and her head would slowly turn towards the young girl, a look of panic appearing on her expression. Though her eyes never dared to look at her sister directly, Arelyn took note of whatever Be was doing and return to whatever she was doing after nodding slightly to herself.


    Butpared to Olevyn who was only fearful and passive, there was a certain resolve in Arelyn''s eyes when she was looked at Beyn''s direction. It almost seemed like she was resolved to get over a trauma, killing every little bit of fear she experienced in the process.

 Chapter 217: Nobility

    Chapter 217: Nobility


    ''Though, they don''t really look like the hate Be that much... What''s the deal with that?'' Evin thought excitedly, his mind imagining whatever tragedy that had urred between the sisters.


    He searched for scars and traces of injury on the two sisters'' bodies, but obviously, it was a fruitless task. After all, in a World filled with healers, it wasn''t hard for the people of nobility to hire someone to fix a beaten-up daughter.


    With the Serpent next to the town, Evin wouldn''t find it imusible if there were a number of talented World of Life mages inside Smallwall town. Now that he thought about it, probably the Earl himself also knew of the Serpent''s existence. After all, since the Earl was in charge of letting new mages take on the Oaths and also receive descriptions of spells from everyone, he shouldn''t bepletely ignorant of matters rting to mages.


    ''Speaking of the Earl, as always, he acts like nothing ever happened'' Evin thought, as he nced at the man talking about a monocle that he received from Duchess vd.


    ''Perhaps it''s his method of coping? Like how some people would run their mouths endlessly to forget the pain? But he doesn''t even look like he''s sad like that'' Evin thought a bit and sighed softly.


    ''It isn''t my ce to care...'' he sighed again and felt a bit depressed.


    ''Ugh, I''m such a terrible person Be beat the shit out of her sisters and I''m just sitting here reveling in the aftermath...''


    ''Though how did she even manage to do that with the Oath inside her body?'' Evin wondered.


    ''Unless of course, the sisters had gotten physical with her at some point. Maybe they were shoving Be around, before the little mage snapped and fought back'' Evin thought of an exnation. How the sisters thought that was a good idea, and why they even dared to do such things after witnessing what Be was capable of, Evin didn''t know.


    But as he thought further, he was leaning towards the idea that whatever happened was good for the sisters. Sure, the two were probably deeply traumatized, but Arelyn was working on oveing it and in over-all, the girls seemed to be bing better human beings.


    Punishment usually did a better job than empty rewards... though, one had to not over use it. That''s just abuse at that point.


    ''As for her trauma, she would probably get over it at some point in her life'' Evin mused inconsiderately.


    As for Be, well, time would tell what would happen to the young girl... though Evin was pretty sure the girl was intoxicated by her powers. At any rate, Evin was sure as hell not going to meddle himself in this family''s affairs.


    ''Now that I think about it, the Earl seemed to have ended up in the worst possible situation, huh?''


    Evin noticed that none of the girls seemed to be acting nicely towards their father. Be looked like she lost all hope in him, while Olevyn and Arelyn looked at him like they were looking at a traitor of some sorts.


    "Now that I think about it, have you ever considered bing a noble?" the Earl asked suddenly, catching Evin''s attention.


    While before, the man talked about seemingly unimportant topics like how the food is and what kind of horses Marquesses preferred, and what kind Barons preferred. All things that Evin could reply with a nod or an ''uh-huh''. But now, it was a topic that Evin was slightly interested in.


    "A noble? Not really. Though I don''t really know what they do specifically, so I can''t be sure if I want to be one or not," Evin answered. He knew that he could buy, or earn the title of a baron if he wanted to and tried to rise in ranks inside the kingdom, but aside from that, he didn''t know much.


    "Oh, if you be one, I''m sure you''ll be a Viscount or an Earl in no time. After all, money is the easiest and fastest methods of rising through the ranks," Velpinughed.


    "Could you borate a bit?" Evin asked.


    Velpin waved off the maids in the room, leaving only the mages and the people of nobility, with the head butler staying as well.


    "As you can probably guess, nobles rise in ranks through contribution to the country. But one should know that nobles are widely divided into two categories. Nobles focusing on military strength and nobles focusing on economy. After all, not everyone is talented at both," Velpin exined and Evin simply nodded along.


    "But obviously, it doesn''t mean that a noble can just single-mindedly focus on one thing. Even if you''re a war hero of some sorts, you still have to make sure that the territory you were assigned to is functioning properly, with its citizens properly paying their taxes and livingfortably. And conversely, even if one is a noble who focuses on economy, it doesn''t mean that they could neglect the safety of their domains. Like me, who hired a group of mages to protect the area."


    ''I''m pretty sure they''re here to just protect you since I''ve seen none of these mages in the town, but okay,'' Evin retorted in his head.


    "At any rate, nobles like me mainly receive benefits for my contributions by properly developing my economy and paying the kingdom money, while others might focus on training soldiers and mages to send them to the war with the South. Obviously, the mages and soldiers who go to the war receive some sort ofpensation as well." Velpin finally got to the main point.


    "So, does that mean that I can just stay as a Baron and if I steadily send money to the kingdom I''ll receive benefits?" Evin asked.


    Being a baron meant owning a piece ofnd, one which usually produced one thing or another. So, if Evin said that hisnd produced money, he could just keep exchanging them for these benefits, whatever they were.


    "Exactly, but of course, it''s not that simple as you''re making it out to be," Velpin smiled slightly.


    "Could you tell me what these benefits are?"


    "Oh, you know, the usual. Most of them are rights to purchase materials in bulk: lodestones and the various forms of sorbothium mostly. But you should know that the rarity of the materials you can get bes better as your noble rank increases. For example, after you be a Viscount, you get ess to the various materials that cater to specific Worlds, like Hermium of the World of Space and Ventium of the World of Storms."


    ''Right to purchase? Does that mean I won''t be able to buy any Nyxium and the like from that factory in the North if I don''t have Northern clearance?''


    "But I''m still able to simply purchase those materials if I wish to, right?" Evin asked.


    "Yes, definitely. But you should know that purchasing from the countries will be substantially cheaper and easier. And moreover, after you be an Earl like myself or maybe even a Duke, you can receive materials that aren''t easily found in the market like World Shards or even World Cores if you pay the proper price," Velpin said, before throwing more bait: "Obviously, aside from those there are many more materials that you can get. One more thing that you might be interested in is the right to impart magical knowledge upon others."

 Chapter 218: Plagiarizing again

    Chapter 218: giarizing again


    ''Right to teach others? Probably something useless in the end. After all, I can''t imagine the kingdom allowing me to teach anyone that doesn''t have its Oath But I am interested in World Cores and other rare materials'' Evin thought of the pros and cons of bing a Noble.


    ''I wouldn''t mind bing a baron and just buying refined sorbothium from the kingdom every now and then. But I''m pretty sure the kingdom will put a limit to it at some point. I can''t imagine them letting me hoard such a huge quantity of materials for myself. Most likely they''ll force me to rise up in ranks and increase my responsibilities, getting me more and more tied up with the kingdom''


    The more he thought about it, the more he found that this was detrimental for him. Looking at the plump man sitting in front of him, Evin realized that the man in front of him was probably instructed by someone else to convince Evin to buy a noble title.


    ''Or maybe he''s doing it of his own will. It wouldn''t be weird if the nobility system worked like a pyramid scheme of some sorts, with nobles getting referral points and whatnot.''


    Evin sighed a bit and thought of how to best refuse the man.


    "Sadly, I feel that I''m really unsuited to be a noble. I''ve never thought myself a proper leader, but I''ve also never liked following others around, so it''s probably best if I keep to myself and mind my own business," Evin said. He debated mentioning his involvement with the North, but quickly judged it as a bad move.


    Velpin seemed a bit disappointed by the answer, but still put on his trademark smile andughed softly.


    "Well, that''s too bad. I always hoped to see a promising young noble family to sprout out from mynds, but I guess it''s a doomed dream."


    ''Aw,e on man.''


    "Please don''t agonize yourself over this. I''m sure your daughters will be there to properly continue your legacy," Evin said and noticed how Velpin nced at his daughters with an almost helpless manner.


    "Oh these three Even though I begged them to just marry someone and focus on continuing the family, Be''s decided to be a war-mage and Arelyn''s hell-bent on bing an military strategist," Velpin sighed.


    ''A military strategist? Where did thate from?'' Evin was surprised as well. After all, the young woman never looked like someone who would walk anywhere close to a war. After thinking a bit, he supposed that it was a method to ovee her trauma somehow, so he didn''t wish to question it out loud.


    "Is that so? Well, I don''t really have any opinions on that, so I''m afraid I can''t help you much," Evin refused to take any sides here.


    ''Neutrality is best.''


    "Only Olevyn seems to be willing to stay here with me, but we both agree that she is probably not suited to walk the path of a noble," Velpin sighed again.


    "Well, I''m sure you''ll find a solution somehow. And even if you don''t, I don''t think it''s that big of a deal to let go of your noble title and live peacefully in some ce away from society, you know?" Evin said offhandedly.


    Velpin heard the idea and looked at Evin weirdly, no doubt trying find humor in the statement tough at.


    "That''s certainly an idea, but I don''t think I''ll be able to sleep well at nights, knowing that the 100 year history of the Borna family ended during my time. Naturally I wouldn''t want my daughters to harbor such ideas as well," Velpin said with a sigh.


    "Have you ever heard of a saying that goes something like: ''Attachment is the root of suffering''?" Evin didn''t mind the Earl''s view on life, but he was feeling a bit chatty at the moment. Though he did know that whatever he said today was probably going to be ignored by the Earl.


    Velpin shook his head after pondering a bit.


    "It basically means desperately clinging onto something will most likely result in a tragedy. The reason being the fact that loss is inevitable. You can cling onto your title of an Earl all you want, but you should understand that one day, the family''s name will die out. Perhaps it will happen 500 years from now on, or perhaps it will happen in the next decade," Evin shrugged with a slight smile.


    Velpin nodded along unenthusiastically.


    "Alright, let''s think of a hypothetical situation. Let''s say five yearster, you be unable to rule over yournds due to whatever reason and have to put someone in charge of the family. Naturally, your first choice would be Arelyn, since she''s the oldest and was also preparing to receive the title for some time. But Arelyn at that point is still focused on bing a military strategist. She starts to vehemently hate you for forcing her to rece you and refuses to properly focus on ruling over your county. Again, this is all hypothetical," Evin said, bowing down to the youngdy, who was suddenly pulled into the conversation.


    "Yes That''s exactly what I''m afraid of," Velpin chimed along.


    "You, on the other hand, are sitting on the sidelines, watching your daughter ruin everything your family worked to achieve. I''m sure you''re going to do your best to fix everything afterwards, but at that point, your family''s doomed. The most unfortunate part is, that you don''t realize it. You''re single-mindedly trying your best to save the doomed situation somehow, not knowing that there''s nothing you can do about it," Evin said with a smile.


    "Hmm" Velpin seemed to fall in thought.


    "I sometimes have a feeling that some things in life are just meant to happen. Call it destiny or call it fate, nothing you can do will be able to prevent it from happening," Evin said and continued after a brief pause:


    "Now imagine if you had given up your noble title to the kingdom, and let your daughters do whatever they wished. Although a bit dangerous, Be might be an aplished mage in the kingdom, Arelyn might be a famous general in the army and Olevyn might get happily married to a man she loves. You''re peacefully enjoying retirement, satisfied with the fact that you served your country to the utmost of your capabilities and let your children be who they wanted. A family man and a patriot. As for the history of your family, well, perhaps you can hire a writer of some sorts and have your history be recorded permanently. At least you didn''t force something that wasn''t meant to be, ending your family''s history with a tragedy of some sorts."


    ''I''m sure running my mouth today, he-he,'' Evin thought smilingly, as he observed the Earl. He expected the man to scoff at the ridiculousness of it all, or just dodge the topic entirely. After all, few could let go of the power and authority they possessed. But somethingpletely unexpected came out of the man''s mouth.


    "Odd how I''ve never heard of someone saying such things. If I was a bit younger, perhaps I would snort at its ridiculousness, but I can''t help but feel that there''s truth to your words" Velpin said, an almost excited tone in his voice.


    ''Huh? Did I just convince a person of nobility, an Earl at that, to consider letting go of his powers and live out the rest of his life in peace? What?''


    "Frankly, I''m quite surprised you''re even considering my advice," Evin said nkly.


    "Ha-ha. I''m not so mule-headed as you imagine. And truthfully, your words struck me as quite profound and eye-opening. Perhaps it''s the wisdom of the Children, eh?" Velpinughed loudly.


    "I suppose it can''t be helped. After all, I''ve literally died once. If I couldn''t be at least a little wiser after that, then there''s really no hope for me," Evin chuckled ironically.


    ''Man, I''m changing people''s lives left and right. Maybe I should start a self-help cult or something, where I just talk about random ideologies from Earth''


    "Ah, I want to keep you here to chat all day, but like you''ve said, good things have to end at some point. We both have our own matters to worry about. And sorry for not asking this earlier, but I''ve never learned why you''vee to our mansion?"


    Like Velpin said, the food was almost finished, and the people around seemed to be getting bored of the talk between the two old men. And weirdly, Evin ended up enjoying the conversation a lot more than he thought he would.


    "I''ve actuallye to deliver you this," Evin said and gave Velpin the enclosed and marked letter.


    "Ah, I almost forgot that I have a responsibility to take care of these. After all, it''s been years since someone actually submitted something like this to me," Velpin chuckled and put the letter away after reading what was written on the cover.


    "Also, I''ve brought some gifts for your daughters as well," Evin remembered and reached for his storage device.


    He brought the two hats and the book and presented them each to the girls. But very quickly he noticed a small problem. Compared to Be, who was reading through the Book of Illusions with avid curiosity, Olevyn and Arelyn just looked at their bos in their hands like they didn''t know whether tough or cry. Lana was looking over with a mocking smile, no doubt preparing a series of nefarious insults.


    ''Damn old man,'' Evin cursed the hatter in his head and started to think of ways to save the situation.


    "Seems like I''ve brought you something you don''t quite like" he admitted honestly, after pausing a bit.


    "Oh, no-no. Of course not," Arelyn replied suddenly, realizing how rude she must''ve looked.


    "Please, we don''t mind it at all," Olevyn chimed in as well.


    "Ehm, don''t worry about offending me. I''m not dumb enough to not see when someone doesn''t like a gift. Here, take this instead and you can buy whatever you want," Evin gave the two girls a stack of gold coins each, which added up to 10 per person. The Earl''s family knew he was loaded, so he didn''t mind splurging a bit again.


    ''Weird how I can casually throw away such huge amounts of money, but it doesn''t feel as much because it''s expressed in only a couple dozen circr casts of gold'' Evin thought suddenly.


    He''d just given a money equivalent to 10k dors to the two girls, but for some reason, it just didn''t feel like a lot.


    "Are you sure about this, Evin? I''m pretty sure the hat cost only a few silvers at most," Velpin said from the side.


    "Ah, don''t worry about it. After all, I gave Be such a huge amount thest time, I''d feel bad if I don''t treat the other two to something," Evin shrugged.

 Chapter 219: Offer

    Chapter 219: Offer


    Ignoring the weird looks he was receiving, Evin made sure to let the two girls keep the money and prepared to leave.


    ''Though, odd how the Earl didn''t try to have me and Be engaged again,'' Evin thought with some surprise. As he dined, he noticed that the girl would steal a nce towards him every now and then, but he had decidedly chose to ignore her.


    The Earl decided to have a maid escort him out and Lana stood up to follow behind him as well. Oddly, the woman was walking behind him with an awkward smile, seemingly choosing the proper words for she was about to say.


    The trio walked to the mansion''s front door, and Lana finally said something after having the maid leave before her.


    "Uhh, Evin, do consider joining our littlepany someday."


    "Were you instructed to invite me?" Evin replied with a smile.


    "Perhaps? But I wouldn''t really mind having you in the team too, you know?" Lana added.


    ''I really don''t feel like Tsaena is someone who would order something he knows pointless. Or maybe there''s a bigger boss behind this group Well, who knows?''


    "Terribly sorry to dash your hopes, but for the time being, I don''t have any ns to work for a group of any kind," Evin exined simply.


    "I told him it''s not going to work, but he still insists that I ask you Ugh, I feel like I just confessed to someone with full knowledge that I''ll be rejected," Lana mumbled.


    "He-he, maybe one day you''ll be sitting on top of your boss, giving him unreasonable orders," Evin said casually and started floating.


    "Sure, I guess we all can dream" Lana said in a wistful, very out of character manner.


    "But couldn''t you train Be a bit, so that she can join you guyster on?" Evin asked.


    "We actually are alongside a bunch of other young mages, but it hasn''t yet been decided if she''s going to work with us or not," Lana said with a smile.


    "I thought you weren''t allowed to teach without being a noble?"


    "Oh, you definitely can, after buying the rights to teach from the country. But for this case, we''re just borrowing the Earl''s Authority,"


    "Ooh, that''s pretty interesting. But I don''t understand why you would want to teach young mages? Is it just because one of them might join youter on?"


    "He-he, no. We''re being paid by the Earl. Apparently, the man was hoarding quite an amount of good materials in his stash, perhaps hoping to use them for a mage of his own blood or maybe just a random one he found from his county," Lana smiled.


    "Huh? But thest time I saw her, Be was still a beginner mage, though" Evin asked with some confusion.


    The Earl should have collected a number of Core Shards under his possession, so normally, Be should''ve been much stronger than she was at the time.


    "Who knows? We''ve been employed here for almost three months now, and during that time, Be''s absorbed three batches of Core Shards under our guidance, which turned her into a half-core just a few days ago," Lana shrugged.


    ''To each their own, I guess,'' Evin was a bit confused, but thought no more of it and said his goodbyes.


    "Alright, well, hope we''ll see you in the future."


    "Yeah, goodbye," Lana said and waved Evin off, watching as the boy in question disappeared behind a veil of illusions.


    A few minutester, Evin entered his house, satisfied with finishing one of the tasks he set out to do.


    ''Now I just have the paper money to worry about and then Sasha''


    Rith was sleeping on a pile of pillows, a slight crease on her forehead, while Riz and Raz were ying around her.


    The two kittens looked at Evin, ran over excitedly and started rubbing their fur against Evin''s feet teasingly, like they weren''t acting all thrilled a second ago.


    ''Ah, these two obsessed with me, just like their mother,'' Evin thought jokingly and yed a bit with the kittens, waiting for Rith to wake up.


    Theor and Lora came to ask him about what happened to him, to which Evin answered how the Earl wanted him to be a noble. Theor seemed very slightly interested in the endeavor, while Lora seemed a bit wary.


    Evin expressed that he didn''t mind if his parents wanted to try at bing nobility, but reminded them that he wouldn''t be involved in the process at all. He also wanted to tell them that the kingdom might try to get to him through them, but his parents reassured him that they weren''t going to dabble in nobility, so he chose not to.


    Eventually, Rith woke up and Evin dragged the Cosmic into his room and asked her to summon her brother.


    "Ugh, can''t we do this tomorrow?" Rith groaned, clearly not in the mood for work.


    "Just fix yourself with the World of Life, why are you so stubborn about this anyway?" Evin sighed.


    "No, but you can''t It''s just that you You don''t understand," Rith grunted.


    "Sigh, it''s not that I want to ruin whatever unsungw you guys have to follow, but it''s just painful to watch you suffer like this, you know? I''m genuinely distressed to see you like this," Evin said, wondering if a change of approach will work.


    "Ugh, shut up," Rith replied, dashing Evin''s hopes.


    "Alright, we''ll wait for tomorrow. Though have Abe ready a Contract or something," Evin reminded with a sigh.


    Just as Evin was about to leave, Rith suddenly lurched and hastily created a portal in front of herself, into which she tried to puke out her innards. Obviously, the half-assed portal fizzled out of existence and the Cosmic''s vomit gushed onto the floor.


    "Empress'' tits! Just fix yourself! What is wrong with you?" Evin cursed and went to find something to use as a wiper, cold sweat running through his back, because of the liquid nature of the mess.


    When he came back, he saw Rith staring nkly at the floor, a dejected look on her much more healthy-looking face.


    "Did you fix yourself?" Evin asked, a satisfied glint in his eyes.


    "No Uh, but I''m feeling better because I puked," Rith exined.


    ''She definitely did Thank the Empress.''


    "How much did you drink anyway?" Evin asked, looking at the massive amount of liquid on the ground.


    "Probably enough to get a human drunk as shit I don''t remember that well," Rith said, making Evin wonder how much alcohol would a cat be able to drink before it died from poisoning.


    "Alright whatever. Go and sleep some more," Evin said, and bent over to clean the floor.


    But a thin portal appearing right in front of him stopped him from doing so. The portal perfectly swept over the floor, skillfully wiping all of the nasty liquid away. Evin expected part of the floor to be scraped off by it, but the floor''s paint wasn''t changed in any way.


    "Huh," Evin said and looked between the gaps between the wooden boards and found that they too were swept clean by the awfully precise portal.

 Chapter 220: 15%

    Chapter 220: 15%


    "I''m feeling alright now, so we can do whatever you were trying to do," Rith said after a small pause.


    "How did you do that?" Evin asked, properly impressed by the Cosmic''s talents.


    "Remember how the outer edge of a portal can''t cut anything? Well, I can also will it to be malleable upon contact with something. So I just create a portal right above the floor and push it down, so it fills in all the gaps. Afterwards, just move it across the surface you want to clean" Rith exined, sounding much livelier.


    "Huh. That''s a neat trick," Evinmented and put away the cleaning cloth he was holding.


    "You wanted me to call Abe? With a Contract?" Rith asked and Evin could see her ears twitching a bit, excited about the prospect of new business. None of the previous hungover Rith to be found.


    "Yes, I''m going to sell you an idea. A big one at that," Evin smirked evilly.


    Rith smirked back and the two entered the World of Space. Rith started her ritual of breaking a ne to summon Abe, but this time, Evin noticed that the ne was blue.


    Sure enough, after a few minutes, Evin saw Rith''s brother appearing, with an array of blinding blue stars painted across his body. Evin could also sense a feeling of natural superiority from the Cosmic, which wasn''t present the previous time Evin saw him in the World of Space.


    ''When did he be so strong?'' Evin wondered and thought of thest time he saw Abe.


    When Abe appeared to send Evin off to hise, he hade with a proper flesh and body and Evin didn''t bother to check him with his soul vision at the time. So it could''ve been that Abe was already stronger at the time, it was just that Evin didn''t see it.


    "Why hello there Heh, ever since my sister met you, she''s called upon me three times already. Weirdly, those are the only times she ever called me, so I guess you deserve a thank you at the least," Abe greeted the two with a weird statement of some sorts.


    "You''re wee?" Evin replied unconfidently and Rith just sighed exaggeratedly.


    "Again, I told you I would call you if I found something out of my control. It''s just that I''ve never met something like that previously. And also, you''re being weird," Rith retorted.


    "Ah, and what kind of situation you''ve met today?" Abe asked, an amused grin on his face.


    "Actually, I''m not sure myself. Evin just told me to call you since he has something big in store," Rith said with a shrug.


    Abvelgail urged the boy to begin talking, but Evin needed to rify a few things before speaking. He was also feeling a bit teasing as well.


    "Let me ask you a few questions first," Evin began after clearing his voice: "Could you enlighten me with the history of money in the Empire?"


    Abvelgail seemed a bit surprised by the question, but still started to faithfully recount the details that he could remember.


    "Well, as all things start a bit clumsily, in the earliest ounts of trading, one can see that lodestones were the biggest form of currencypared to gold and silver. Earliest recorded time, being of course, the 1st year of the calendar. The year the Empire was formed by the Empress," Abe began.


    Evin remembered being quite shocked at the fact that no one in the Empire knew anything about the time before the Empire, but he now knew the reason: practically everyone had died due to the Empress'' massacre. Evin had a few theories on how all those people reappeared again, but in the end, it was all spection so he didn''t dwell on it too much.


    At any rate, naturally, not a lot of people had ess to information from before the Empire. Evin was actually quite surprised that the Vulpine Mother managed to find out about the Empress'' previous title. But Twelve hinted that aside from the Authorities, there was a special group of people who knew about the Empress'' past, so Evin guessed that the fox learned it from them, somehow.


    As for money at that time, it was in line to what everyone would expect. There was no unified cast of coins like the Empire and instead, every country used differently minted coins. Naturally, the three giants of the time (Nosk, Hexmagi and the Holy Lands) had stronger currenciespared to the rest of the countries.


    "Naturally, the Empress had all the countries use the same system we use now, with the gold, silver and bronze coins, but those weren''t all that popr. Everyone was much more interested in the Worlds and the lodestones, hoarding the magical stones as much as humanly possible. But, as we all know, the lodestones were things that disappeared every century," Abe chuckled slightly.


    "So, in a span of a single day, the entirety of the world''s economy was thrown on its head. Mass confusion ensued, as the richest men in the world had suddenly turned broke overnight. Though that''s just an overstatement, they still had their property to work with," Abe suddenly exined his analogy and resumed speaking: "At any rate, the world learned its lesson and started to focus more on the gold and silver coins."


    Oddly enough, Evin never saw a single piece of a lodestone inside Anna''s memories. Everyone used the Divine Essence that could be found in the air. This could only mean that the Empress had created the lodestones at some point and scattered them across the world.


    "From then on, there wasn''t much change in the system. There were a few countries who tried to mint their own coins, but those never found sess, so eventually people stopped trying. There were also a few times when the Countries agreed to reduce the amount of real precious metals in the minted coins. Currently, the gold and silver coins have to be more than 90% real gold and silver. The bronze coin though, only has 1% real bronze in it, due to the price of the metal being much higher than what you can buy with it."


    Evin was a bit shocked with the revtion, but found it reasonable after thinking a bit. After all, although not as expensive as silver, bronze was still considered a fairly precious metal.


    "Who decides how many coins are minted?" Evin asked.


    "The rulers of the Countries decide that, but they''re not allowed to exceed a certain sum every year. This was an order from the Empress herself, so there''s no trickery there. And so basically, since the coinage system that the Empress has given us works without issues, so no one bothered to change it," Abe shrugged.


    ''Oh, thank you, Empress. For all the authority and trust you instill in your citizens,'' Evin thought happily, before starting the biggest sell of his life.


    "Well, have I got an idea for you." Evin started, rubbing his hands together.


    "Alright, get on with it already," Abe urged from the side.


    "No. First, we must discuss payments."


    "How much of the business you want?"


    "No. I won''t take any share from the idea that I''m about to tell you. Instead, I want 15% of the profits of your banking business," Evin said in the most confident tone he could manage.

 Chapter 221: Avoiding politics

    Chapter 221: Avoiding politics


    "You realize I can''t just say yes to a ridiculous proposition like that without knowing a single thing about whatever idea you''re trying to sell me, right? Moreover, the fact that you''re wanting the shares of the banking business, instead of this one isn''t really helping the situation," Abvelgail calmly assessed the situation.


    "Of course, I wholeheartedly agree with your points. Let me try to exin it a bit better. What I''m trying to sell you isn''t something that''s purely for profit. Well, you can definitely try to use it as a means to make money, but that''s not what it''s best at. It''s something far more powerful than that," Evin exined.


    He knew that making profits off printing paper money was possible, but such a thing wasn''t going to happen any time soon. And honestly, it was a topic that fell in the area of politics most of the time. So, to maximize his gains, Evin just decided to just sell it for more shares in the bank.


    The first business he gave to the Cosmics was doing great, so why not try to regain a piece of that pie? After all, he was swindled a bit by the Cosmics the first time so this could be called his redemption arc, pretty much.


    "Do continue," Abe urged.


    "By powerful, I mean something that can be used to control the entire economy if used correctly. Something that gave you a say in deciding the supply of money, controlling the rate of intion and even deciding who gets a job and who doesn''t. All while saving you millions in expense every year!" Evin dered, a joyful tone in his voice.


    "Hmm, I still need more details. First of all, what is it? Is it just a product? Is it a service? Or is it an ideology of some kind?" Abe asked, a skeptical tone in his voice.


    "We could call it a product But I don''t want to tell you anymore," Evin smiled mysteriously.


    Abe looked at Evin doubtfully, but the boy could see the curious glint in the Cosmic''s eyes. Rith was still loitering around in the background, acting as if any of this didn''t have anything to do with her.


    "Let''s hear the details of your Contract terms," Abe said finally.


    "Pretty simple. I tell you the full details of this idea and if you decide to implement it in any shape or form that resembles what I''ve told you, you must give me 15% of the Banking profits your group makes. I should probably rify that even if the project is in the nning stage, I will get the 15%. Also, the Elmes Group will never mention that I was the originator of this idea. Moreover, I will also need a use in there that says the Elmes Group will protect me and my family to the utmost of its capabilities, if the fact that I was the originator of this idea is somehow leaked to the World. Oh, and I get to name the product, as well," Evin said simply.


    He shuddered to think what kind of reaction the Countries would have when Evin had literally buttfucked them out of nowhere.


    "15% seems like a bit too much," Abe said.


    ''Well, I won''t fall for that a second time,'' Evin smiled.


    "I asked for 10% of just the Kingdom thest time and you told me it was too much and gave me 0.1%. At the time, I didn''t do anything and silently took the loss. After all, I just took an idea from my original and just sold the same thing here. But in hindsight, I realized that I could''ve probably asked for 10% of all branches and the deal would still be fair. Why? Because I saved at least a century of trial and error for you all. How much money do you think you would''ve wasted trying to perfect the idea of Banks?" Evin smiled and continued,


    "Truthfully, the idea I''m about to give you could be considered something that''spletely going to change the market. I can probably even push for 20 or 25% percent if I want to, but I''m really not feeling like ying a haggling game with you. After all, I don''t really need that much either," Evin added, hoping he was right.


    Abe fell into silence, giving Evin some time to idly think about things. He wasn''t lying about the idea of paper money letting the Cosmics control the World''s economy.


    There was a reason why every country on Earth had their own currency, and desperately tried to keep the thing strong in the international scene. After all, the benefits of having an independent currency were immense. The biggest one being: the entirety of their economy wasn''t reliant on another country.


    If for example, the Cosmics'' new currency took off and every person in the World started using it, the Cosmics would theoretically have full control over the World. It was entirely possible for them to cuck a certain country by either reducing their ess to the Cosmics'' currency or outright banning them from using it.


    But obviously, that was only if the Countries allowed it to happen.


    He was acting all high and mighty, but in reality, he was lowkey swindling the Cosmics. The introduction of paper money was probably going to bring the Cosmics more trouble than control and profits. After a few months, most likely, the four countries were going to unite to stand against the economical threat that were the Cosmic currencies.. If this was before the introduction of banks, then maybe they would''ve taken a bit longer to react, but since the Four countries had just experienced the damages caused by the Banks, they were sure to act swiftly the second time around.


    ''Right after the Cosmics start printing out banknotes, the countries will gather their leading economists and have them decrypt what the hell the Cosmics are doing. Very soon, they will realize the consequences of letting the Elmes Group''s n run unhindered, but realizing that they can''t really do much to stop it by themselves, they will unite with the other Countries and strike back,'' Evin spected.


    ''Or maybe, if they''re ambitious enough, they may try to copy the Cosmics and create their own currency Though that might be a bit risky if they act too slowly,'' Evin thought with amusement.


    Another thing that Evin had to remember was that the Cosmics might choose to dy the printing of paper money, waiting for the perfect time to do it. This was the reason why Evin wanted the 15% share even when the Cosmics paper money was in the nning development.


    ''But this is all just spection in the end. Who knows what can happen in this new world?''


    Abe finally seemed to finish thinking and looked back at Evin with an annoyed face.


    "I''ll need to contact the upper echelons. It might take a while, so I''ll contact you back tomorrow,"


    "Alright, but I won''t wait more than a day," Evin thought about and realized that it usible. He was actually happy about the fact, since this meant that the Cosmics were going to consider the problem seriously. And besides, he didn''t mind waiting another day or so.


    Rith and Evin said their goodbyes to Abvelgail and exited the World of Space.

 Chapter 222: Cosmic Society

    Chapter 222: Cosmic Society


    A few momentster, Abvelgail appeared inside city of Valerian, which was located inside the World of Space. If Evin could see this ce, he would definitely be shocked by the futuristic look of it all.


    Enormous buildings with impossible shapes made up the bulk of the city''s size, practically all of them defying thews of physics in one way or another. It made one wonder if the Cosmics really needed such huge architecture for themselves with their tiny bodies. But considering the fact that some humanoids frequented this ce, some of the buildings had to be built with them in mind.


    This was one of the original safe havens that the Cosmic Felines of the Elmes Group had built to protect them from the invasion of the other Countries of the Empire, if such a day ever came. Naturally, in the first few centuries of the Empire, the rtion of the Cosmics and the rest of the countries could be called strained at best, but over time, the Elmes Group became one of the irreceable members of society.


    Most of the World''s storing, maintenance, transportation, and now safeguarding of money was done with the help of the Cosmics.It wasn''t an exaggeration to say that the Four Countries would lose more than they gain, even if they were able topletely conquer the Group''s riches.


    "Enjoy your stay Valerian, sir Lesser-imposer" a passing orange-starred Cosmic, a Standard from the looks of it, said to him in a reverent tone.


    Abe nodded in reply to acknowledge the other, but sadly he wasn''t free enough to chat with the Standards.


    There were countless Cosmics appearing and disappearing through portals around the square. Most of them had either yellow or orange stars on their bodies, with only a few smaller ones having red ones. There were some with white stars littering their bodies, but none of them had blue ones like Abvelgail.


    Naturally, he received the asional respectful bows from the surrounding Cosmics, who noticed that a lesser-imposer had appeared amidst them.


    Wasting no time, Abvelgail contacted his direct superior and requested for an urgent meeting, which was obviously his father, Lashvain Solraheeth. Thankfully, thetter seemed to be free for the time being and informed Abvelgail that he would being to Valerian momentarily.


    Another 10 minutester, Abvelgail was sitting inside a private room with another old Cosmic, who looked back at Abvelgail in an amused way. The blue dots on the old Cosmic''s body had almost turned ck, but there was a certain feel of weakness and decay on them as well.


    "So? What''s got you all riled up and panicked?" the Lashvain asked.


    "I''ve received a business suggestion from a human," Abvelgail began and truthfully recited the details of Evin''s proposed Contract, though he was careful to not disclose Evin''s identity.


    The old Cosmic heard the details and scoffed disdainfully.


    "Hmph, just refuse. Why do you have to bring me into this?"


    "It''s because the person who suggested it is the one who perfected the idea of banking for us. The one that you so dearly wished to produce more ideas for us," Abvelgail said.


    ''Disappoint first and then impress. A bit risky but it works because he knows me,'' Abvelgail thought.


    "That doesn''t really change much. I know I''ve given him a dimension as bait for more ideas, but it doesn''t work if he wants to bite off more than he can chew. As you know, although our Solraheeth family holds the rights to the Banking Business now, it has be something too big for us to hold onto. With every second, the pressure on our family increases along the profit that the banks bring us. Do you think I''m allowed to simply give away 15% of the profits to an outsider? A barely ten year old enough boy at that. Even if his ideas are promising, it''s notpelling enough for me to agree to that," the elder shrugged.


    Abvelgail expected such an answer. Although the Cosmics encouraged the families to mind their own businesses and not covet another family''s pie, when said pie became a bit too big, everyone would start wanting a piece of it, to hell with tradition.


    When the Solraheeth family first dered their intention to supply the funds for another attempt at the business of Banking, every other family mocked them for their stupidity, celebrating the idea that one of the smaller families was about to go bankrupt again.


    The social system of the Elmes Group worked a bit weirdly. Even though on the surface, every business was owned and operated by the Elmes Group, the profits of the individual businesses actually went to the family (or families) that pitched the business idea and financed it.


    For example, most of the Storage and Transportation businesses were mostly owned by the Elmes family, with the Delivery service being under the Virago family''s control, and the manufacture of Storage Artifacts done by the Vastis family. The other smaller families mostly owned small bits and pieces of these businesses.


    The Solraheeth family was one of them. This was also one of the reasons why a simple peak half-core like Abvelgail could make the decision to agree with Evin''s proposal. After all, no one at the time gave two shits about the Solraheeths.


    But if every family at the time knew how big of a deal this was going to be, they would''ve done anything in their capabilities to turn the rights of the Banking Business into a "Public Share", of which any family could freely purchase a percentage.


    Obviously, the Solraheeths would have benefitted greatly as the originators of the idea, but they would''ve lost the rights to the Banking business entirely. Even now, the other families were doing their best to have the Solraheeth family sell the rights of this business.


    ''If perhaps the Elmes family pitched this idea, then there wouldn''t have been any problems. After all, they were at the top anyway, it didn''t really matter if they increased the gap even further,'' Abvelgailmented in his heart.


    "Thanks to Evin, the Solraheeth family''s wealth and power is at an all-time peak. Compared to where we were three years ago, an unremarkable family whose members could only enter the legion of the ''Standards'' to go searching for young mages to make exclusive contracts with, we are now one of them most prosperous families in the society of Cosmics, with young yellow stars lining at our doorstep to join us. The Banking business turned out to be as big as the original Storage and Transportation businesses owned by the Elmes family. Just from this fact, I can tell you that we shouldn''t ignore Evin''s idea," Abvelgail said.


    "Hmm," the old man grunted lowly.


    "Moreover, I can tell that this new idea of his is much more impactful than thest one. From what I can guess, his intent seems to be changing the entire coinage system of the Empire."


    "What? Then all the more reason to refuse him outright. You know the history of creating new coins in the Empire. Even if it''s something as revolutionary as his banking idea, it''s just not going to work under the rule of the Empress. Remember how the North tried to circte their newly minted coin and literally everyone and their mothers refused to touch it in fear of slighting the goddess?"


    "I''ve told Evin about the history of money in the Empire and when I told him about the failure of other currencies, his confidence seemed to rise even higher. I''m almost positive that we should at least listen to him. Like he expressed in his Contract terms, if we don''t like it, then we can just ignore it and move on with our lives," Abvelgail insisted.


    "You know it''s not that simple. If we listen to him, the Elmes Group lose the right to invent the idea by ourselves. Think about it, perhaps after a century or two, the Cosmics would''ve tried their hands at the idea of Banking again, slowly perfecting it over. This idea of his will be thought of sooner orter. There''s no need to rush like this," the Lashvain replied.


    "But at that time, the idea will most likely not belong to our family. Even though we''re rich now, it doesn''t mean our family is filled with geniuses. As you''ve said, it''s only a matter of time before the Banking business is divided between the other families. I''m thinking that we should go out with a bang." Abvelgail reminded.

 Chapter 223: Decision

    Chapter 223: Decision


    "We''ll go out with a bang, he says. I don''t quite understand what kind of bang you are talking about? Us giving 15% of the Banking business to a human boy? Or the one where we get blown to smithereens by the other families? Heh, at that point, we''d be ones ripped into pieces, not the Banking profits," the old Cosmic said disdainfully.


    Abvelgail sat in silence, waiting for his father to continue. Thanks to the experience he amassed over his long life, he knew for a fact that since the old Cosmics was joking about the matter, he was in reality, contemting it inside.


    "Now that I think about it, it would be amusing to see their shocked faces as I reveal how I''ve sold the 15% for a dubious idea from some random kid. A Child of the Empress, for sure, but a nameless kid nheless," Lashvain chucked.


    "In my opinion, our family would end up richer if we bet on Evin, instead of wholeheartedly relying on the group. After all, we''ve been doing thetter for a few centuries now, and there hasn''t been much change in our situation," Abvelgail added.


    "Heh, following Ritven, you too seem to have fallen for the Child''s charms. It''s honestly disturbing."


    "It is not his charms, it is his capability and connections that I''m interested in," Abvelgail said.


    "His capability is the knowledge found inside his head. As for his connections, aside from the fact that he works for a super-imposer, what''s there to be impressed about?"


    ''Hmm? He can''t be going senile now, can he?'' Abvelgail thought with a frown.


    "Have you read Rith''s final report on the boy?" Abvelgail asked suddenly, a n hatching inside his head.


    A small rip in space appeared in front of Lashvain, as he pulled out a neatly enclosed letter from inside.


    "This thing? I was a bit too busy, and I also assumed that it was just the girl passionately writing about the boy''s daily life, as always," Lashvain said offhandedly.


    "I have a feeling you''ll want to take a nce inside this one," Abvelgail urged.


    The old cosmic pulled out a monocle from the same tear in space and after putting it on, started reading the contents.


    Abvelgail could see his father''s slitted eyes dart around the piece of paper a couple dozen times before an expression of shock appeared on his face.


    "Lady Twelve Jokes? And she allegedly stayed next to him to protect him for half a day? Were the Authorities always this free and easy to employ??" Lashvain asked, as he furrowed his brows.


    ''Well, another one of Rith''s reports describe them to be a group of bored wastrels, but it seems that you haven''t seen that one either Hmm this is definitely a chance for me to have him make up his mind,'' Abvelgail thought.


    Right after the mysterious organization attacked Rith and the others, naturally, Abvelgail received a report from his sister describing the aftermath. She had also mentioned howx and carefree the Authorities seemed to be,pared to the unfathomable and domineering images the mage popce usually painted them in. She even added a line describing how the Ancestor personallyforted her for a bit.


    Abvelgail remembered how shocked and jealous he was when he first read it. He also remembered how he carefully folded the same report in another piece of paper and sending it to his father, wondering how the old Feline would react. The old man obviously didn''t show any excessive reactions and Abvelgail chalked it up to the wisdom and experience of the old...


    ''But it seems that he didn''t only because he didn''t see it.''


    "The boy has a stronger connection to the Empress than any leader of the Four Countries. Even the current leader of our Group should only be knowledgeable of the things that our Ancestor let''s him know. Although the Empress, in her never-ending glory, decides to stay peacefully inside her Tower most times, she does like to influence certain things and individuals that she finds interesting. The Authority of Storms would be the greatest example," Abvelgail said and watched as his father fell into a dilemma, granting him another moment to lose himself in random thought..


    There were cases in history when the Empress'' attention put certain individuals on higher pedestals. Some of them even reached heights that were just below the Empress herself. One such example was Ethez Sent, the self-proimed ''Righteous Rogue of the West''. The man was no more than a glorified terrorist who spewed out some rather convincing bullshit about the nobles in the West acting a bit too tyrannical towards themoners and mages under their rule. He then rallied the rogue mages across the World, staging a coup of unprecedented scale.


    He was actually one of the biggest reasons why the countriester decided to make the Oaths a thing that all mages had to take on.


    As for Ethez himself, he was eventually caught by the Western mages after a rather uneventful and tedious chase.He was tried at court and it was decided that he would be executed by excessively overloading his mana-core over and over again. Probably one of the most painful ways to go, as he had to experience the pain of his heart literally exploding over and over again, until he died from either shock, or simply over-exhaustion.


    But after his second overload, the literal Empress'' voice appeared in everyone''s head and told them to let go of Ethez and bring him to the ck Tower. Some were obviously unsatisfied with the sudden decision, but after a couple of deadly demonstrations of the ol'' reliable ''divine punishment'', the remaining people dly brought the captured rogue to Tower City.


    A few decadester (ones filled with hot and spicy rumors about a certain terrorist and the Empress), the rogue reappeared in the World as the Authority of the World of Storms. Naturally, this didn''t help to smother the problem of rumors.


    And just like this story, Abvelgail was more interested in what kind of chaos Evin was going to bring to the World. There was something in his stars that was just telling him that shit would go down, if he let Evin do as he wished. This was one of his reasons for trying his damn hardest to sell Evin''s idea to his father.


    A couple minutester, Lashvain red back at his son, a deadly glint in his eyes.


    "The more I think about this whole thing, the more I want to remind you to not bet your luck on assumption. I wouldn''t have minded if any of your suppositions were based on facts, but I can''t help but feel that you''re stretching things a bit too thin here."


    "You''ve also told me to trust my instincts if things start to be too enigmatic," Abvelgail retorted with an odd smile.


    "15% of the business that practically defines our family is not something so "enigmatic", as you describe," Lashvain scoffed, but then fell back into silence, a deep contemtion apparent in his eyes.


    Like previously, Abvelgail sat silently, waiting for his father to finish thinking.


    ''Although he acts like he''s against the idea, it''s painfully obvious that he''s dying to know what the idea is. After all, he''s the one who felt the previous one''s effects the most out of the entire Elmes Group,'' Abvelgail thought gleefully.


    "Can we add a use that says we can implement his ideas after his death?" Lashvain asked suddenly, warranting a chuckle from Abvelgail.


    "He''ll most likely turn it into a proper time limit of some sorts, perhaps telling us we''ll be able to do it 300 years in the future. And we can''t really n to implement whatever he decides to tell us, since he stated that he must get the 15% even if the Elmes Group is only at the development stage of a n regarding his idea," Abvelgail reminded and saw his father groan in annoyance.


    "Curiosity definitely killed the cat," Lashvain murmured, before ring annoyedly at Abvelgail once more.


    "Should I bring you to him now?" Abvelgail asked smilingly.


    "No, we''ll need to meet someone first. Our family can''t handle the aftermath of this alone," the old Cosmic said with a wry smile.


    ...

 Chapter 224: A self-restraining act?

    Chapter 224: A self-restraining act?


    The ensuing night, Evin was suddenly woken by Rith in the middle of the dark, who informed him that the Cosmics were ready to listen to his idea.


    "What is wrong with you people?" he asked Rith, but the Cosmic seemed unsure as well.


    "I don''t know either, Abvelgail just contacted me and told me to fetch you," Rith replied and the two got into the World of Space after dressing up a bit more properly.


    Groggy and irritated, Evin surveyed the surroundings to find Abvelgail, to teach the Cosmic some stuff about the moral decency of not waking someone in the middle of the night. He quickly found Abe, but saw two more Cosmics next to him.


    The first one seemed to be an elderly Cosmic, with faint blue stars littered throughout its body, a distinct look of deterioration apparent from a nce. Evin looked a bit closer and saw a weird simrity between the old Feline and Rith.


    ''Their father?'' Evin thought, but pulled his attention to the other neer.


    The second Cosmic, on the other hand, seemed much slicker and more youthfulpared to the elder. But the more noticeable thing that Evin saw, was that the Cosmic''s astral body was entirely ck. No, ck was a bit of an understatement in this situation.


    The Cosmic''s body was more resembling of the ever-consuming abyss of a ck hole. Although it wasn''t distorting space around itself like an actual ck hole, Evin was sure he wouldn''t be surprised if it started doing so.


    One more thing he noticed, was that the Cosmic''s iris and pupil was almostpletely ck with the only white sclera asionally showing itself on the side, which gave the Cosmic a weird aura of unfathomableness.


    If all this wasn''t big enough hint that the Cosmic in front of him was a serious bigshot, then Evin wouldn''t know what was.


    "Ah, the Child of the Empress, who put the Elmes Group on its head with a few simple words. It''s an honor to meet you, you can call me Devin Elmes, current vice-president of the Elmes Group," the younger Cosmic greeted with a bow.


    ''Definitely a bigshot. The second biggest of them all, actually. Holy shit''


    "Likewise. Ehm, I''m Eviendra, though you can call me Evin," Evin answered politely. Over the course of his life, he learned that being well-mannered and respectful was the best way to avoid unnecessary trouble. Thoughtely, he mixed politeness with a bit too much sarcasm.


    "Terribly sorry to bother you in the middle of the night, but unfortunately, it''s the only hour I''m free today," Devin apologized.


    "Please don''t worry about it."


    ''He speaks with a friendly tone, but it''s kind of oppressing how he looks at me,'' Evin thought and decided to be very careful of what he decided to speak.


    "Am I to understand that you''ve epted to listen to my idea?" he then asked.


    "Precisely so. But I do have a few suggestions to add on the Contract," Devin said smilingly.


    ''Sigh, here ites,'' Evin thought as he nodded for the Cosmic to continue. But to his surprise, the changes weren''t what he was expecting.


    "We won''t change the 15% that you''ve proposed originally, and the fact that we''ll still have to pay you the proper amount even if we start nning to implement whatever your idea may be. But you must understand that we might have already developed these ideas before you came to enlighten us, so please be understanding of that. This book here has a list of all the failed projects the Cosmics have tried before," Devin said and put the book in front of Evin.


    The boy tried to pick it up, but was stopped by the Cosmic, who continued his exnation.


    "If I hear an idea that appeared at one point in our long history, I will open this book and show you. In that case, we will still be eligible to implement the idea 30 yearster after we sign the World of Space Contract. Moreover, we will also be able to implement your idea 200 hundred yearster, even if it''s not inside our long list of failed projects."


    ''Hmm, guess they''re making a safety for themselves I suppose that''s mandatory. After all, no one wants to be tied up by some contract detail forever,'' Evin thought, but he felt that 200 was a bit too short for beings that could live up to 300 years.


    "Increase the 200 to 300 and you have a deal," Evin said, not noticing Abe''s childish smirk on the sidelines.


    Devin mused for a bit and slowly nodded his head.


    "One more thing that I suggest adding to the Contract is a use saying that the members of the Elmes Group must not harm you and your family in any way possible. This will be effective as long as you or any person on your family does not provoke the Group in any way," Devin said slowly.


    ''What?'' Evin thought confusedly, wondering if he was falling into delusion due tock of sleep.


    Devin noticed the Child''s confusion and said again.


    "You did not hear wrong. The entirety of the group will be banned from harboring any kind of ill intention towards you and your family. This even extends to your future wife and children, mind you," the Cosmic said with an enigmatic smile.


    ''So I''m not hallucinating here''


    "Could you exin to me the reasoning behind this new addition? I have a weird gut feeling that there are countless feral Cosmics ready to rip me apart any moment if I tell you of my... humble ideas," Evin asked unsurely.


    "Of course. Currently, there are zero such "Feral Cosmics" waiting to murder you, but after you receive 15% of the Banking profits, you can be sure that the zero will turn to a few dozen thousand very quickly. I personally don''t want some members of the Group to be the cause of a tragedy, so I''ve decided that it''s probably best to prohibit the possibility altogether," Devin exined smilingly.


    ''Wait so they''re just enforcing self-restraint on themselves?''

 Chapter 225: The sell

    Chapter 225: The sell


    ''I guess that works After all, instead of spending restless nights trying to hatch some fruitless n regarding my death, they can sleep peacefully, knowing that they''re inly not allowed to harm me,'' Evin mused.


    ''Though it''s surprising that a use from a World Contract between me and Devin is able to affect the entirety of the group''


    "I''m guessing that this new use is enforceable through something simr to the Oaths?" Evin asked.


    "Something like that. At any rate, you don''t have to worry about its effectiveness," Devin smiled.


    "Alright, then let''s sign the contract. I''ll start talking afterwards," Evin said and the two sides went on to read through the Contract details and sign them without dy. Since the previous contract regarding the banks was still effective, Evin could be sure that the other side couldn''t just rename the banking business and cut Evin off.


    Afterwards, Devin pulled out two seats and a couch for everyone present to rx on, with a small table between all of them.


    "Now, all that''s left is for you to introduce your idea," Devin said as he silently sat on one of the seats.


    Evin also sat down and unhurriedly began his talk.


    "First, I feel that it''s crucial for me introduce some of the history of money on my original world."


    "Before the development of a universally epted medium of exchange  that is, money  people did what we call bartering  two sides each possessing some goods the other wanted, would decide on an agreement that let them exchange their desired goods," Evin said and saw the Cosmics assume a shocked expression.


    "Naturally, such a form of trading had many inefficiencies. For example, if someone has sheep, but wants ceramic cups, they must find someone who not only has excess ceramic cups but also the need for meat, or wool. And even when they find one, they must consider whether a ceramic cup is worth a whole sheep or not. Should they shear the sheep and trade the wool for a cup? Or should they butcher the sheep and sell parts of its meat?"


    "You can probably see how utterly inefficient, puzzling, and exhausting this system is."


    The Cosmic seemed like he wanted to rify something, but apparently decided against it, so Evin continued.


    "Commodity money solved these problems. Commodity money was a type of good that functioned as currency. Goods which were widely desired and thus valuable, such as dried food and processed leather were prime examples of such currency. Naturally, it was even better if they were also durable, portable and easily stored. After all, our did not have the immensely useful Storage Rings of Alvox."


    "Naturally, there were many other examples of such money  alcohol, tobo, spices, beans, shells, and salt. But evidently, the biggest example were precious metals, such as gold, silver or copper, which were promptly turned to coins, which worked simrly to the coins of Alvox."


    "But, you might be a bit surprised to find out that the usage of coins and simr metal objects only began to appear after civilizations existed for more than 3000 years. That''s about half of our long history of roughly 6500 years! Can you imagine using beans and shells to trade for more than 3000 years? Granted, we didn''t start with a goddess ruling over our heads and paving the proper way for us, so I suppose it''s inevitable we fumble in the dark for a few millennia," Evin smiled wryly and saw the thoughtful nods of the Cosmics.


    He expected them to be a bit shocked about Earth''s extensive history, but the Cosmics didn''t seem very interested in the subject. Instead, they seemed more focused on the financial side of things.


    "I suppose lodestones are the perfect example ofmodity money. Even though it''s not money, it''s widely used as its recement." Devinmented to which Evin nodded smilingly.


    "Exactly. And at around the 5200-year mark, our world''s economy was about to develop another form of currency that was desperately needed in the economy  paper money. Or, banknotes in some cases. This - is the core of the idea I''m trying to sell you," Evin said and silently eyed Devin''s reactions, wondering if the Cosmic will reach for the list of failed projects in front of him to show Evin that the Cosmics have thought of this before.


    The Cosmic did not reach for the book, but instead seemed truly interested in the idea, as a glint of excitement became apparent in his dark void eyes.


    ''Perhaps I need to give more details before they decide whether they''ve had this idea or not,'' Evin thought and continued.


    "At first, these pieces of paper, were introduced to the economy due to the shortage of coins and precious metals. There were simply not enough metals to mint coins for everyone. This problem was especially apparent in the ces that were booming economically. So, these pieces of paper were created to take on the roles of metal coins."


    Still, there was no reaction from Devin, making Evin want to jump up in joy. But, he stilled his excited mind and continued on.


    "In fact, I''m still sometimes confused how you, the Cosmics, are all able to casually move around millions of such of coins so effortlessly," Evin said, and was momentarily surprised by the words that came out of his mouth.


    ''Now that I think about it, even though the coins are made as thin as possible, it still feels like there''s way too much gold in this world...''


    Devin smiled slightly in response and exined the situation.


    "I''m not sure how the situation is on your, but the supply of gold and silver on Alvox is fairly abundant. I''m not sure how much gold there is in the World in reality, but I''m positive that there''s enough to supply our need for the foreseeable future. Moreover, there is a rather special group of World of Earth Mages who are tasked with artificially creating gold, silver and bronze for the economy,"


    ''I knew people tried to create gold through magic! After all, even on Earth where there''s no magic, people still tried their damn hardest to create gold through alchemy and whatnot.''


    ''But thinking about it all, my guess that a single gold coin equaling 1000 dors is probably not as true as I imagine it to be''


    When Evin first came to Alvox and was introduced to its currency system, he''d casuallypared a gold coin to be worth 1000 dors of the 21st century. After all, it was an easy enoughparison to make, and helped him a lot to get used to money in the new World.


    But now, when Evin thought about money, he thought in gold coins of Alvox, not the dors of Earth. It was a simr concept to thinking in a certainnguage. For example, after Evin had reincarnated on Earth, his thought process was mostly done in English. During the next 4 or so years, it gradually shifted to the Kingdom''snguage, and now it was on the verge of thinking in Imperial.

 Chapter 226: The glorious rise of... America?

    Chapter 226: The glorious rise of... America?


    limatization aside, another rted question popped up in Evin''s head.


    "Can you tell me exactly how much of your vaults consist of crystal lodestones and coins? For example, is it maybe 30% lodestones and 70% coins, or is it different?"


    Devin looked back at Evin, seemingly wondering if the boy was harboring any ill intentions. Evin could understand why, as information of this kind could be utilized by others to harm the Cosmics, especially so if the amount of lodestones was high. After all, the centurial redistribution of lodestones wasing in a couple decades.


    "Although I''m not supposed to tell you of this to outsiders, I''ll make an exception for you. In reality, the percentage of lodestones in our vault far exceeds any amount considered remotely safe by most other countries and organizations. Currently, 40% of our total liquid assets are lodestones," Devin said with a smile.


    "You''re right. It does sound very risky and dangerous," Evinmented, wondering how much damage he could do to the Elmes Group if he ever decided to reveal this information. If the Countries got wind of this leak, they would surely write up aw that forbids anyone from selling to the Cosmics for lodestones.


    "Obviously, as time passes, we''ll do our best to reduce this number to 0% in preparation for the reset of lodestones, but it''s a bit too early for us to do that. After all, the incident is still two decades further down the line."


    ''Hmm, now that I think about it. I''m pretty sure the Cosmics didn''t think of creating paper currency because of how they used lodestones instead of it. They already had a perfectly functional alternate currency. The only problem with that was the fact that it disappearedpletely after every century...''


    ''In this case, the idea of paper money should be more and more alluring to the Cosmics After all, paper money is the better recement for lodestones,'' Evin thought, even more confident now.


    "At any rate, let''s get back to paper currency. After its introduction, the use of paper money was bing more and more widespread alongside coins. Most of the time, it backed by something else, gold or another precious metal. After all, without nothing backing them, they were in the end, just glorified paper. This meant that people could use these paper currencies to purchase things, while also being able to exchange them for raw gold or silver at a specified rate with their government. So, if there ever came a day when no one wanted your paper currency, you could feel safely hold onto it, since you could still exchange them for something," Evin exined smilingly.


    "But, after about a thousand years after the introduction of paper money, the leader of America, one of the biggest countries in my world, decided that its paper currency, which was called the dor, was no longer redeemable in gold, which meant that the value of the currency was no longer tied to something material. Its value was instead tied to its demand and the people''s basic faith in its worth. What do you think happened when the people learned of this?" Evin asked.


    "I''d like to say utter chaos and anarchy but I have a feeling that the idea worked wonders," Devin said and his paws reached his chin, no doubt thinking of how usible this was to implement in Alvox.


    "Exactly. Obviously, this move by the America''s leader might have not worked if it was just any old country trying to implement a revolutionary idea... But all the stars were in shining on America at that time. First of all, America was almost arguably the economically strongest country in the world at the time, which meant that its currency was widely epted not only in that country, but was widespread in countless other countries as well. So, if the value of the dor dropped, not just America, but many other countries were going to have a bad time. This meant that naturally, the entire world was working tirelessly to ensure that never happened," Evin said.


    Evin didn''t just randomly mentioned America in his little speech. This was his n to make the Cosmics seriously consider his idea of paper money. For many countries, America''s rise in the 20th century was like the perfect dreame true. Countless people all around the world dreamt for the chance to live in America, instead of whatever shithole country they were living in. So if the Cosmics saw a case of sess, they were infinitely more likely to consider implementing this idea in reality.


    ''Though, I should probably not mention America''s more depressing times in the economy, huh''


    For the next few moments, silence ensued in the World of Space. Devin''s hands were glued to his chin, an awfully focused expression on his face. Evin didn''t mind the wait. At this point, he was 99% sure the Cosmics would try their hands at this project of his. It was now just a matter of how they were going to implement it. Sure enough, a relevant question popped out of Devin''s maw.


    "Could you tell me a bit more about how the enemy countries of America reacted?"


    ''Hmm, how much should I say? Honestly, the deal''s almost over at this point, so I don''t feel toopelled to say anything Wait, even though I''m talking as if I know everything about Earth, I don''t really know how the others reacted? I just remember literally everyone and their mothers in America talking about the subject as if they were all macroeconomy graduates''


    "I''m not quite sure on the details, actually. I just know about the matter since I was staying in America when everything was happening. But I do know that after a few decades, every country in the World had their own functioning currency in the market," Evin exined with a shrug.


    "Is that so" Devin said and fell into thought again. After a few seconds, he followed up with another question: "These various currencies, they must''ve not been equal, right? I''d guess that even if they started on a simr tform, over time, the people would''ve preferred a currency over their own. You''ve also mentioned it with the dor being widely epted in other countries."


    "Definitely. Right before I was reincarnated, I remember one dor equaling thousands and sometimes even trillions of another currency. Naturally, the countries with stronger economies had currenciesparable to the dor, sometimes even stronger than it, but they could never dethrone the dor as the most widely traded currency of the World."


    Evin felt that he''d spoken enough, so he decided to ask the Cosmic to make his decision:


    "I must confess that I don''t know half the details of this idea that I''m trying to sell you. At the end of the day, I''m just recounting the history of my previous World to you all. I''m sure you''ll think of countless better methods to perfect it yourself... Or, you can choose not to, and we''ll pretend like this conversation never happened."

 Chapter 227: A rich boy

    Chapter 227: A rich boy


    Devin smiled widely upon hearing Evin''s suggestion to ignore the idea, no doubt finding some sort of humor in the concept.


    "As much as I''d love to save the Group a couple million in profits, I simply cannot disregard your revtions as merely a new trend of business," Devin chuckled.


    Evin was about to reply, but Devin had at some point took on an excited look, like a child who couldn''t wait to tell his parents about some new and exhrating toy he''s found.


    "No This isn''t something so small and insignificant as a means to make more money. Sure, it can do that, if one decided to endlessly produce it, but the consequences of abusing that trait is quite severe and frankly dumb. Instead, it''s much better if the amount of this paper money to be low, to be carefully regted and controlled. It would probably even reach unimaginable heights if the amount was set to be finite, like the gold and silver that we all love to collect,"


    The Cosmic seemed like he wished to go on a little monologue, so Evin tactfully shut up and assumed a listening expression. He knew how people in power loved to rave on about their genius and intellect. As for whether he would actually listen or just pretend to do so, well, it depended on the content of the monologue.


    "You''ve given us a weapon  a powerful one that we didn''t even know we needed. When I think about how much we could''ve done if we knew of this "idea" of yours previously, I grieve at the loss of progress"


    ''Alright, buddy, I know you''re thinking of the perfect development in the ideal world, but you should probably remember that the countries and the more powerful faces of the Organization won''t be so courteous to let you stir up their economy,'' Evin thought, amused by Devin''s enthusiasm.


    At this point, Evin was 100% sure his idea was sold, so he was content with ying along to the Cosmic''s satisfaction.


    "And your story about your America, it''s truly inspiring and intriguing. It makes one hope to listen to the entirety of your home world''s history. It''s a bit unfortunate you are unwilling to talk more about it all but let''s hope that one day you''ll be willing to unseal your secrets to the denizens of Alvox. Who knows what kind of changes you might bring here," Devin smiled.


    "For me, this Empire filled with magic is much more interesting than boring old America," Evin replied smilingly.


    "Hmm and moreover, you''re quite lucky. If perhaps Lashvain and Abvelgail here decided that the idea was not worth the loss of profits, then you might not have gotten your 15% until I''ve heard of this idea on ater date," Devin said and smiled at the other two male Cosmics.


    "Please, your excellency, we wouldn''t dare to stilt the growth of the Group. I''d like to think I''m not dumb enough to ignore such opportunities and prioritize a few million in profits," the older Cosmic said with a slight bow.


    "Sure, you won''t. That must we why you doggedly hid the previous project from me and spearheaded it with only the members of your family," Devin smiled meaningfully.


    "This and that are different things, sir," the old man replied casually.


    ''Huh? Is the Group more divided than I thought?'' Evin heard some rather umon bits of info. But thinking about it a bit more, he could see the Group being more split on the inside than it appeared from the outside.


    ''After all, it''s rare for huge organizations to not have conflicts of interest. Pretty sure if a group''s number exceeds more than a 200 or something, opposing sides start appearing. From what Devin said, the Group seems to be divided into various families''


    This also meant that the Cosmics'' mission of excessive interracial breeding with cats had another benefit to it as well - one of recruiting members to their family.


    "At any rate, we''ll promptly allocate the profits of the banking business to you, and furthermore, you''ll be able to buy whatever you''re allowed from us at a 20% discount in the future. I''ll have someone send the proper documentation for thatter," Devin exined.


    Evin was naturally very happy with this development, but.


    "Are you not allowed to sell me those things if I''m not allowed to purchase them?" Evin asked confusedly.


    "Yes, you need to have some kind of right to purchase. I believe the easiest method for you is to be a noble of some sorts. Naturally, there are other ways as well, but I''m sure the Mage Association above you will be able to tell you more," Devin said.


    ''Huh Velpin had mentioned this while we were talking as well, but at the time I didn''t quite give it any importance, thinking it was just rted to the materials you could buy from the kingdom. Who knew that it also applied to other countries?''


    "It''s an old agreement between the Countries and us to keep the number of rogue mages low. Unfortunately for you, I''m afraid I''m not allowed to ignore it so casually," Devin exined.


    ''What the hell did these rogue mages do?'' Evin couldn''t help but think. He''d heard them being mentioned a few times in the past, but never managed to learn more details. He thought to ask about them from the Cosmic in front of him, but he had more pressing concerns for the time being.


    "Could you tell me what I''m allowed to purchase from you currently?" Evin asked.


    "You should understand that the procurement to World Cores and Core Shards are 100% under the control of the Four Countries. They also heavily control the distribution of magic rted knowledge, with us Cosmics only being allowed to teach the secrets of the World of Space to others. The countries are a bit more lenient on the various states of sorbothium and the World specific materials, but you still need a clearance to purchase them. But obviously, they don''t control everything. For example, the purchase of magical devices arepletely out of their jurisdiction. After all, it''s quite hard to reverse engineer magical devicespared to simply having it be taught," Devin smiled.


    "Then a manaplex should fall in the category of a magical device, right?" Evin asked.


    "Oh definitely, manaplexes and other various devices. I''ll have someone send you the full list at ater date. For the time being, perhaps you can wonder about how you''re going to spend all the money you''re about to make," Devin winked at Evin.


    ''Seems like I''ll be on one big shopping spree,'' Evin thought gleefully.


    "Could I ask you some more details about the currencies?" Devin began and started to rify how the various currencies worked on Earth.


    Evin exined all sorts of details about the currencies without being stingy, as he''d already gotten the 15% in his hands. The average value of most currencies; how most banknotes usually nominated almost astronomical prices at first, but gradually, its value dropped turned into something that everyone could freely use; and examples of countries overprinting them, until everything went to shit... After another hour, the conversation finally reached its end.


    "Also there was another line on the Contract, where you had the right to name the product of your idea. Did you mean the right to name the currency?" Devin asked, eyeing the golden Contract in his hands.


    "Oh, Ipletely forgot about that. Yes, I want the new currency''s name to be Neko. I''m not sure how much worth will one Neko have, but I feel I''ll be able to see it in cirction in a few months'' time," Evin said, trying to keep himself from snickering like a child.


    "Neko? Hmm, not bad... As far as I know, none of thenguages have a word that goes neko, is that right?" Devin said and looked for confirmation from the other Cosmics.


    "I believe so as well," Abe said after thinking a bit.


    "Then there''s no problem. Expect to see a surge of Nekos in the foreseeable future, then," Devin smiled an shook Evin''s hand.[ol][li data-annotation-id="834f75dc-d2ac-99d5-4cbb-0d872823886a"](Author-san wasn''t very happy about this perfectly logical development. Though expect a chapter full of magical innovation and yada-yada in the near future)[/ol]

 Chapter 228: Rith

    Chapter 228: Rith


    Very soon, the two Cosmics disappeared through one of the most masterfully created portals Evin ever saw and only he and Rith were left in the World of Space. They too, soon left the World and reappeared on boring old Alvox.


    "Well, that certainly worked well. I definitely did not expect my father to contact His Excellency Devin but I suppose that''s the best-case scenario for you," Rithmented.


    "I assumed that you weren''t so close to him from how you spoke of him previously."


    "Oh, we''re as close as we can be, considering he also has literally hundreds of other kittens and perhaps even thousands of grandkittens born from his blood. I''m also quite sure he also has another thousand or so siblings and cousins. At that point, the concept of blood rtions really start showing its uselessness and meaninglessness. At best, they act as a quick and easy path of connection," Rith sighed wistfully.


    "But although you call them useless, they seem to bother you very much so," Evin remarked casually with a shrug.


    Rith eyed Evin back with a gloomy face and sighed.


    "I sometimes wish I was you; I really do. Indifferent to the mockery of strangers, unaffected by the whispers of bystanders, impassive to the gaze of the surrounding, and so used to the possibility of detachment," the Cosmic uttered dramatically and chuckled dryly in the end. She then turned around and jumped onto Evin''s bed.


    Evin was a bit surprised by her sudden outburst of emotion. He wanted to ignore it as a joke due to feeling a bit tired, but his experience told him that if he did so today, the consequences might be severe. His brain started to work full-throttle on the cause of the Cosmic''s depression.


    Without hesitation, he essed the World of Thoughts, while Rith was facing the other way.


    ''If I can help it, I should definitely avoid asking her what happened. It would be great if I can find out what caused her to get so riled up. From what I can notice, she was fine when she woke me up and only after I was finished speaking with Devin, she started acting like this''


    Evin concluded that something must''ve happened to Rith during this time frame. But as far as he was aware, Rith hadn''t spoken a word through the whole thing. Neither did Abe or the elder Cosmic, except when he was prompted by Devin.


    ''Can Cosmics speak to each other telepathically?'' Evin thought and concluded that it was possible. After all, Rith spoke to Runa and Enri all the time through telepathy, so it wouldn''t be surprising if she could do the same with Abe and her father.


    It wasn''t hard to conclude that Rith''s family members told her something she didn''t want to hear, most likely her father. And since Rith had also mentioned that family members being quick and easy forms of connection, then it wasn''t hard to guess that her father urged her to stay next to him and hopefully dig out more information about Earth.


    ''It''s a bit of a narcissistic thought process, but at the end of the day, I had just finished probably one of the biggest transactions in the history of Alvox,'' Evin decided.


    The other conclusion was that Rith just wasn''t feeling very good and was having a fit of some sorts, but Evin found it very unlikely, as she also mentioned his imperviousness to the words of others. Most likely there were some serious undercurrents running rampant in the background of that conversation and Evin simply didn''t bother to pay attention to it. Which Evin definitely didn''t. He had looked at Rith''s father only twice during the entire time: when he first noticed him, and when Devin suddenly called him out.


    ''Sigh, but now that I''ve found the cause, what am I going to do about it? Console her and hope everything will be okay? Tell her to leave the Group behind and live life as a vagabond of some sorts? Or tell her to cut off her family and leave everyone hanging''


    Thest two suggestions were definitely not usible, as Evin could clearly tell that the Cosmic cared about her family, even though she acted like she didn''t want anything to do with them. So Evin telling her to casually cut off her family probably wasn''t going to help.


    Another thing that Evin could do was to y dumb and try dodging around the topic and see where it brings him. And when he feels like the atmosphere was alright, he could bring up the topic. But it was a bit hard to do right after Rith had thrown her poetic expression of her emotions at him. He at least had to respond in a passably reasonable manner to that.


    ''Or I could y the "spirit" card. Talk about how I''m so used to death and loss  how simple it is for me to forget things and move on. How fickle the random thoughts of others seem in front of my massive wealth of experience,'' Evin sighed.


    ''Yeah, probably not a good idea,'' Evin thought and started to properly mull over a response.


    But, in the end, Evin realized that there was no right answer to a Cosmic wallowing in despair. He could only think offorting the Cosmic and acknowledge her ims, hoping she was willing to talk further. But that too seemed unlikely to work well.


    Like in many cases, Evin was simply too logical in his approach to things  with him literally entering the World of Thoughts to mull over the problem. But when he imagined himself trying tofort another, he couldn''t help but feel like he would sound either too cynical or too sarcastic. He would much rather bring up the core of the issue and hope everything goes well in the end.


    ''Shit'' Evin cursed and exited the World of Thoughts.


    He looked at Rith and noticed that thankfully, the Cosmic didn''t catch him ess the World of Thoughts. He then started mulling over what to say once more, but nothing seemed good enough.


    He debated going into the World of Thoughts again, but Rith had turned around to face him once again, making it impossible for him to ess the World without being noticed.


    "It''s not that I don''t care about what others think, it''s just that I''m very good at ignoring the ones I don''t want to think about," Evin said.


    ''Guess I''m going to pretentious way this time,'' Evin sighed inside.


    "Isn''t that the same as being uncaring?" Rith asked back.


    "Not necessarily... Being uncaring is a cool guy thing, but just ignoring is the same as running away from it... I suppose? And besides, only about one in a thousand or so people are truly impervious to other people''s thoughts. Might be even one in ten thousand," Evin murmured.


    "And why is that?"


    "It''s because humans are social animals. From an evolutionary standpoint, we''re designed to live as a group in some sort ofmunity. So, when you do something that''s uneptable to saidmunity, your brain is wired to feel bad and remorseful. I''m pretty sure the Cosmics function in a simr way."

 Chapter 229: Bullshitting

    Chapter 229: Bullshitting


    Rith listened to Evin''s reasoning and assumed a pondering pose.


    ''She seems to have calmed down a bit?'' Evin thought as he observed the Cosmic.


    "And what would be considered eptable and not eptable in suchmunities?" Rith asked after a pause.


    "Who knows? But I''m pretty sure it depends a lot on how you act as well. For example, if your job record is exceptionally clean, everyone around you will always demand excellency from you. They''ll expect you to do your job perfectly, to never fail simple tasks, and for you to be adaptable to any and all situations. But, sadly, you''re not perfect. You will fail some task in your life, and then you''ll be exposed to the judgmental stares of those people that praised anduded you. Your colleagues that once praised you will look at your direction with a look of schadenfreude, reveling the fact that you''ve finally fallen to their level," Evin spoke without reservations.


    "In my opinion, it''s much better to look incapable. For example, if you always act like an ipetent loser, no one will find your failures uneptable. They''ll simply chalk it off to your ineptitude and move on. And oddly, most of the time, they me themselves for entrusting a task to the ipetent you, instead of ming you who failed it in the first ce. Your colleagues will joke about your failures and perhaps even offer to help you. From what I noticed as a certified invisible ghost; people rarely act hostile towards others that are just slightly inferior to them."


    At this point, Evin was just talking about something random,pletely forgetting why he was talking about these things in the first ce.


    "Hmm, so they would act hostile against someone way below or above their current level?" Rith asked.


    "Yep, if you''re one of the richest people in the World, you''ll never look at a stinking homeless on the streets and register them as an actual human being. You''ll just try your best to avoid them and hope they don''t bother you. But if you''re a struggling student of some sorts, trying to make ends meet, you''ll see the homeless as just some unlucky group of people, who were simply a bit more unfortunate than you. Of course, this will not apply to every person on the world."


    "After all, for better or worse, everyone is different. But for me personally, I''d be happy if people didn''t expect anything from me," Evin sighed, almost tired from all the sentences he just spewed out.


    "He-he, I don''t think people will expect anything less than revolutionary from you," Rith joked.


    "Ugh, then I''ll just have to y the selfish viin card. I''m pretty sure someone from my home world will condemn me for hoarding information about Earth, even though could potentially help Alvox develop in leaps and bounds. Though obviously, I''d choose to ignore them because I don''t mind being called a selfish fuckface by random strangers. Moreover, it''s not like I know everything about Earth, I just know about the sessful ideas and the finished end products. If someone asks me how to create them in reality, then they''d be met with an impassable wall. And besides, I don''t want to talk about them in the first ce, so there''s also that," Evin shrugged.


    ''That was kinda good'' he thought as he finished speaking. This way, he made his stance about Earthen knowledge pretty clear  he''d refuse to speak of it. This meant that Rith didn''t have to worry about pestering Evin to speak of Earth.


    Like he hoped Rith''s expression seemed to soften up a bit,pared to stern and almost deste one she assumed a few minutes ago.


    "Sometimes I forget you''re 300-years-old So wise and experienced," Rith chucked.


    "I really don''t feel wise and experienced, though I do know a lot of random things. Sadly, I don''t really know anything extensive about most of those topics, only some surface level trivia," Evin shrugged and said: "Besides, always having to act wise and learned like the profoundly mysterious master of an art is too pretentious, I''d rather act like a dysfunctional idiot of some sorts."


    "Is this about that lowering the expectations of others that you speak so dearly about?"


    "I guess so... But in the end, just remember that everything''s pointless and life is meaningless. We''re all gonna die someday and aside from our children and our contributions, society won''t really remember much about us. Even if you be an immortal like the Empress, perhaps the universe will implode one day and wipe everyone out of existence. It''s better to just sleep and worry about what you''re going to do tomorrow," Evin said and fell onto his bed after shutting the lights off.


    Rith looked content to sleep on Evin''s bed, as she made herselffortable on one of the corners. Silence ensued in the dark, as Evin''s brain happily jumped between topics, making Evin feel like this was one of those sleepless nights that urred more and more frequently as you aged.


    "Now that I think about it, how old are you anyway?" Evin suddenly broke the silence.


    "I''m not quite sure, but I think I shouldn''t be older than 50," Rith said after a brief pause.


    Evin could see why the Cosmic didn''t know her exact age, as he wasn''t very sure about his own age either. But he was interested in one thing.


    "Then why do you seem so socially nave sometimes?" he asked. Surely the Cosmic was smart enough to infer some details about how society worked at this point in her life.


    "You''re just being rude at this point," Rith answered.


    ''Well, sure, but you didn''t answer my question. Or is that a roundabout way of refusing to talk about it?'' Evin grumbled in his mind.


    "I''ve actually never heard about how the Elmes Group worked in detail," Evin asked randomly.


    Rith''s body made some noise, as the Cosmic seemed to look at Evin briefly. Evin could then hear her head plop onto the bed again and she answered the question.


    "It''s nothing too secretive. You''d be able to learn about it pretty easily as long as you have a friendly enough Cosmic on your side."


    "And? Aren''t you going to speak about it to me? Or am I not friendly enough for your standards?" Evin asked.


    "I''ll tell you about itter. For now, let''s just sleep," Rith refused with a sigh and rustled on the bed once more.


    ''Ugh, so ungrateful. I worked my head off trying to console you and you just shrug my questions off like nothing happened,'' Evinined, and focused on falling asleep.

 Chapter 230: Jealousy

    Chapter 230: Jealousy


    Sasha sat inside her room, confusedly eyeing the young boy sitting in front of her. It was definitely more correct to call the "boy" as an old man, since she''d just learned that not only her younger brother was a Child of the Empress, he had lived up to the age of 300 in his previous life, in apletely different World from this one, and as a ghost at that, which was another cherry on top of the cake.


    "So uh, how do you get to this, Earth of yours?" Sasha asked curiously.


    "I''m not quite sure But I''m pretty sure the two Authorities under the Empress''mand  Twelve Jokes and Two Tales  are able to visit them," Evin replied with a shrug.


    "And it''s filled with ghosts and only humans and all sorts of wonderfully bizarre machinations?"


    "There weren''t many ghosts as far as I could find. Most of them would also die after appearing, so that was that. As for the other two points, yes; there are only humans on Earth as the dominant species. Aside from them, there were countless other animal species who littered the: avians, mammals, reptiles, underwater creatures, and a shit-ton of insects," Evin said with a sigh.


    "And those machinations?"


    "Ehm, yes. It''s probably easier if I just tell you that they worked very simrly to how magical devices worked. See that White sorbothium that acts as a light source? We both know that it mostly works thanks to mana and Luminous energy. But on Earth, there was no luminous energy or mana. So, we had to use something different, something called electricity though I''m not very knowledgeable about how it works in detail," Evin said with a wry smile.


    Sasha had brought her brother into her room to apologize, but who knew she would end up learning such wacky facts in the process. To think that the despicable lowlife swindler that she was imagining was actually someone so special and well, unique.


    After Evin had left for the North, she had randomly learned about the truth of the Children of the Empress from one of her friends. Before that, she had only thought the Children to be no more than aparatively smarter mage childpared to others. And the concept of a talking 2-year-old wasn''t anything too difficult to imagine for her, as she''d seen the excellency of young mages many times when she was studying in the North. For her, it was natural for a mage to be smarter, stronger, and overall better than her.


    A Child of the Empress wasn''t much different than that.


    A Hornbearer wasn''t really worth muchpared to a mage, anyway. Especially the ones with a single silver horn, who could only y around with some illusions. But she''d guessed that she could perhaps be an illusionist of some sorts who gave theaters and ys some life and realism.


    Although most Silver Hornbearers be street-performers of some kind, Sasha wanted a more stable lifestyle, one that didn''t require her to move all around the country, searching for a suitable to crowd to y for. And considering how unsafe it was for a young girl like her to travel around the country, it was much better to stay with a group of like-minded people who had a love for ys and theatrics.


    Even if it turned out to be a traveling theatre, Sasha was sure she wouldn''t mind it as much, thinking of the troupe like a second family of some sorts. She would send her family the few coins she made through her ys, with letters describing the towns and scenery she saw on her travels.


    Well, who knew that all of that waspletely unnecessary?


    Her younger brother had made their family a 2nd grade one and also turned them into one of the richest people in town. The empty, cold house she used to stay in had be one of the mostvishly decorated ces she''d ever visited. Her father who used to doggedly work for another man had started to work on a bakery with her mother. Elina also seemed to look like apletely different person, one that was much happier and more confident than how she acted before.


    All thanks to the mystery child that was born as an unparalleled genius mage. At that point, Sasha could only admire her younger brother''s genius and sit silently on the sidelines like the non-mage child she was supposed to be, Hornbearer or not. Sasha had epted everything without issues, like the perfectly logical silver Hornbearer she was. After all, logic said that having a mage in her family meant that she was going to have a rtively easy lifepared to everyone else.


    What was there toin about?


    But after she first learned of the fact that the Children were actually reincarnated individuals who managed to retain their memories, she started to feel... conflicted. All the Children started to look like a group of sickening fakes and over-glorified cheats. Evin was obviously the same as the rest.


    And in Sasha''s eyes, Evin looked even more disgustingpared to the others, with him allowing his parents to fawn all over him like that. Even though Evin looked like he was weirded out by the constant physical contact, in Sasha''s memories, the boy would always look like he was smiling sinisterly behind his parents'' backs.


    The kisses, the hugs, the love all of it looked violently wrong in Sasha''s eyes.


    ''Ugh, stop trying to make excuses for yourself. Just ept that you were jealous of him and get over it,'' Sasha reminded herself once more, noticing that she was falling into a spiral of hate again.


    ''When you learned that Evin was a reincarnated individual, you just found a good enough excuse for your hate, and now that you found out what actually happened, you''re just lost because your excuse disappeared.''


    These past 9 or so days, after Evin had talked to her, Sasha was allowed the chance to see past the misunderstanding she was stuck on for the past two months and clear away the lump of feelings that was festering inside her. She was finally set free from the suffocating whirlpool of emotions that grasped her heart  jealousy, disgust, worry, hate, apathy, envy, anger, and even a bit of delusional murderousness.


    Obviously, allpletely hopeless and futureless thoughts. An ant did not look at a human and felt jealous of them. They only hoped that the humans didn''t trample on them too hard. There was no point in hating or envying them, let alone trying to murder them, since the gap between them was much too wide for anyone to cross.


    ''But if I can somehow murder a mage with the cheap illusions and trickery I possess, the I suppose I can feel a bit proud of myself,'' Sasha thought randomly.


    Shaking her head, she focused on the talk at hand.


    "By the way, what did you want to talk about?" she asked.


    Evin had told her about wanting to talk with her about something, but never really got to it, as he was sidetracked by his talk of his home World.


    "Oh, yes Umm, what do you n to do after you grow old and leave your house?" Evin asked suddenly.


    Sasha wondered why Evin was asking this, but she still thought about the topic quite seriously. Obviously, the first word that appeared in her mind was the theatre, but something inside her was violently opposed to revealing that to others.


    "I don''t really know. Maybe I''ll marry someone and just live life normally," Sasha answered.


    Evin smiled knowingly at the remark, no doubt wondering what secret profession she harbored inside her heart.


    "Well, I''m sure you''ll think long and deep about that. But I have a little gift here for you," Evin said and brought out a little scroll out of a Storage Space.


    Sasha looked curiously at the thing, but couldn''t really find anything special about it.


    "What is that?" Sasha asked as she reached out for it with her hands.


    "This is a very special gift I had brought for you. Though its effects might be a bit strong, so maybe you should lie down on your bed before taking hold of it," Evin smiled.


    "Is it something painful or dangerous?"


    "I''m not a hundred percent sure But I don''t think you should worry too much," Evin said and urged Sasha to lie down on her bed.

 Chapter 231: The list

    Chapter 231: The list


    "Can you at least tell me what the effects are?" Sasha asked, increasingly worried of the rolled up piece of paper wrapped in a thin velvety ribbon that Evin'' held.


    "Okay, the first effect will be the increase of the amount of mana you can work with. I don''t quite remember if it does so by increasing the size of your horn, or by increasing its quality so depending on which, it might hurt a bit," Evin exined simply.


    "No! I-I don''t really w-wish to increase the size of my horn, thank you," Sasha hurriedly replied, remembering the agonizing pain she suffered during the Horn Ceremony.


    "Wait, wait! I don''t think it''s going to hurt. Ssatsko went through the same thing and as far as I''ve noticed, he didn''t react at all. So, you should be the same as well," Evin reassured her.


    "I really don''t mind! And besides what''s a small increase of the mana I can use will do anything for me? At best I can create some more believable illusions," Sasha vehemently refused.


    "Don''t worry about that. There''s a World of Thoughts imprint inside it, that describes a unique method to use the World. Apparently it''s the closest you can get to ying dragon with the World of Thoughts," Evin replied meaningfully.


    Thest sentence caught Sasha''s attention. Naturally she knew what "ying dragon" meant. It meant that she could use the legendary World of Creation that was sung in the unbelievable tales of the Authorities.


    "What''s it about?"


    "Well, you''ll know it when you see it, won''t you?" Evin said temptingly.


    "No, tell me what''s it about first," Sasha said imposingly.


    A bit too imposing forfort, but she couldn''t pull back her usually authoritative tone from slipping out identally.


    Though, Evin didn''t seem to mind it at all and yfully replied.


    "Well, if you don''t want to take it, then I suppose I can''t help it. I''ll try to teach it to someone more willing~"


    ''Damnit! What do you mean?'' Sasha ruminated with difficulty. The curiosity was killing her.


    ''Wait, he could be just bluffing! After all, why would he want to give something so amazing to me. It would be much better to use it himself There must be something he doesn''t want inside that thing!''


    "You think me so nave to so easily take your bait? If there really is something so magical inside that, then why don''t you use it yourself?" Sasha asked victoriously.


    "Truthfully, I first tried to learn it myself, but unfortunately, the method was ipatible with a Child of the Empress, or anyone who lived a long enough life. Apparently, the thing is much better suited for a teenager or a kid. And since I don''t really have anyone around me that fits that bill, you became the lucky winner. Actually, this is one of the reasons why I wanted toe back in the first ce," Evin shrugged.


    ''That does make sense And besides, why am I so opposed to having my Horn capacity increased? It''s just some small pain, I''m sure it won''t be anything too dramatic like what happened during the Ceremony'' Sasha thought unconfidently.


    "Alright, let''s just get this over with," Sasha said and lied down on her bed.


    "Great! Here you go," Evin smiled and scroll above her.


    Fearfully, Sasha reached for the piece of paper, constantly reminding herself that everything was going to be alright. But after she made contact with it, half-expecting a wave of agony to assault her body, nothing really happened. As Sasha was wondering whether anything was supposed to happen, an unbearably stinging pain came from her horn.


    She tried to scream, but the pain was so great she couldn''t do anything else, other than grasping at her horn, with hopes that it might help somehow. But, she didn''t have to suffer much longer, as her mind nked out and off she went to dreand.


    But something was fundamentally different about this dream. It was too real and too interactive to be just a dream, although a bit boring. The only thing Sasha could see was a vast expanse of endless white.


    But eventually, the whitendscape shifted drastically and a scenery of a forest appeared in her vision, with the one gigantic tree towering over every other one around it. Weirdly, some of them even seemed connected to the big tree, further adding on to its splendor.


    Then, she noticed that a she also had be a tree, a very active one at that. Her roots excitedly wiggled through the ground, apparently searching for something. Sasha had a hunch that she had to find the roots of the giant tree.


    Evin stood guard near his sister, who had fallen into slumber after touching the Velvet Contract.


    "Ssatsko and Arza took only a couple hours to wake up, so she should be in a few minutes. Maybe a bit longer since there''s the added bonus of whatever Lady Veidra chucked into it," he thought idly as he observed Sasha.


    Thankfully, the girl seemed to have gotten over her initial distrust and invited Evin to her room to subtly apologize for her behavior. Obviously, Evin epted the apology without issues and the two started idly talking about some things. Sashater asked about his origins, which lead Evin to talk a bit about Earth and its mysteries, so his sister felt more included.


    ''If only the Cosmics got me married to a spy of their control, then they would''ve learned about every little detail about Earth in a few months or so,'' he joked smilingly.


    As he waited, Evin sighed and nced at the list (which was more of a handbook) that Devin had delivered for him the previous day through Rith.


    The Cosmic had exined to Evin that he could preorder anything he wanted from the list, and the Cosmics would deduct the payment from his future profits with a small interest of 3 percent. Evin could literally buy things that were worth millions of gold coins and just had to wait a year or so to start making money again.


    After all, both the Cosmics and him knew that the banks would make money, so they didn''t really mind if Evin wanted to spend as much as humanly possible. After all, they could even get a few dozen thousand gold worth of interest from an otherwise normal purchase.


    Sighing, Evin focused on the list.

 Chapter 232: The Items

    Chapter 232: The Items


    The list as you would guess, was something akin to a huge catalogue of all the things that one could purchase. Evin wasn''t quite sure who in the world had the free time to register such a list on paper, even if it only included the general concept of things, but there it was,fortably sitting on Evin''s hand in all its glory.


    "Hail capitalism," Evin couldn''t help but murmur randomly.


    The list was widely divided into two categories: non-magical items and services; and magical items and services.


    Naturally, Evin started with the magical items first. He''d spent the past evening sifting through them, sometimes bothering Rith when he found something he didn''t understand.


    In any case, the magical category was further divided into four general subcategories: Magical materials, convenience items,bat items, and Mana Complexes.


    Magical materials, as one could probably guess were the various states of sorbothium and its rare counterparts, like nyxium and ventium. Also, thanks to the list, Evin was finally able to see what every one of these rarer materials were called.


    Hephium for the World of Fire.


    Neposium for the World of Water.


    Tophium for the World of Earth.


    Ventium for the World of Storms.


    Nysium for the Dark World.


    Theium for the Luminous World.


    Hermium for the World of Space.


    Vizium for the World of Thoughts.


    Chrysalium for the Heavy World.


    Cronium for the World of Time.


    Apolium for the World of Life.


    And Pelium for the World of Emotions.


    Although Evin could purchase a very small amount (1 kg) of these materials just for the heck of it, he couldn''t really get them in bulk. He had to get a proper "right to purchase" for that and supposedly he had to get one for every one of these materials. This also applied to sorbothium as well, though for that, the maximum amount was much higher than its rarer versions. Naturally, Evin ordered a kilogram of each from the Cosmics (just for the heck of it) and decided to worry about the rights on ater date.


    Unfortunately, Evin couldn''t find any World Cores and Core Shards in the list, like Devin suggested.


    Obviously, he could see a variety of materials he learned from the book about magical materials that Nasst gave him, but there weren''t really anything super special about them, so he mostly ignored them.


    And besides, he had a bunch of other items waiting for him further in the list.


    Next in line were Magical devices made forfort and convenience. Evin was properly impressed by the items on this list. Almost half of the devices he could find on Earth were listed in here: magical devices that acted like fridges, air conditioners, stoves, rm clocks, etc. were all included in the list. There was just one problem  every single one of them cost entire households and sometimes even more.


    Ever wanted a fucking fridge for 200 thousand dors? No problem. An rm clocked that poked you with a stick to wake you up for 50 thousand dors? Seek no more. An worm-shaped earplug that blocked off any and all sound that came at your way? We have you covered, just give us 30 golden coins and we''re good to go.


    Even if Evin had practically infinite money, it hurt him to buy these things. And besides, he could recreate their effects if he tried hard enough by himself.


    After he learned to passively work the World of Storms, he never had to sweat due to heat in his life, and never once a mosquito existed near Evin''s vicinity for more than a minute. Living as a mage was just living life in constant VIP mode, basically.


    Anyway, aside from rip-offs from Earth, there were a few unique items in the list. Things like a jar that gradually turned water into wine; a mystical bag that makes your possessions extremely heavy if a stranger tries to grab it in his hands; a silver needle that makes you sleep in a minute if you poke yourself with it; a perfectly bnced scale that tries to gorge your eyes out if it finds you lying These were but a few of the countless misceneous items that Evin could see in the list, all of them simrly overpriced like the other, more Earthly items.


    Next in the list were thebat items. These were widely divided into 3 categories: magical artifacts, one time scrolls and Thought imprinted scrolls.


    This list was thergest of the four subcategories, and by far the weirdest of the bunch. One such example was the Celestial Breath of Luck. It was a one-use device that released apressed "air of luck" into a certain area. Apparently, the user would be more likely to have advantageous situations ur inside it. But only if the user was feeling lucky prior to using it. Evin guessed that it could be used if one was winning hard in a gambling arena of some sorts.


    Another item was the Harp of Horror. Anyone who listened to it would be left a crying mess in a matter of minutes. But only if they were feeling a bit gloomy in the first ce. If they weren''t really sad or disheartened, they would just hear a very bad attempt at music.


    The Pearl Wings of the Unnamed. A pair of very impractical wings that helped you fly, only through the power of your will. Evin didn''t know what World this one used, but obviously he didn''t consider buying it, even as a joke.


    And even if for whatever reason he couldn''t fly, he would much rather buy the next artifact: The Magenta Earrings of Flight. A proper flying magical artifact that could let you fly, without attaching two huge pairs of pearl wings on your back.


    Anyhow, next weird item: Momemo''s water. A love potion, which also erased one''s memory of you. So, your target would look at you and feel like they''ve just fallen in love at first sight. But if someone ever reminds them that they''ve seen you before, the spell breaks and they realize that they''ve been duped.


    Though aside from the less useful there were some pretty nice things in the mix, and Evin ordered few of the better ones from the Cosmics. For example:


    The Bone Dust of Iron. These could almost be called magical materials, but since it was made in the same way as a magical artifact, it fell under this category. It worked simrly to how Core Shards, but instead of directing it to his mana-core, Evin had to direct spread them around his bones, which it helpedpress and strengthen it, until it became as strong as iron, as its name suggested.


    The ck Dagger of Regeneration. A peculiar mix of the World of Life and the Dark World. If Evin stabbed this dagger into an open flesh wound, it would turn into a mass of liquid darkness, which helped close up the wound. Every fix required some of its energy to be used, but Evin could easily recharge it by just leaving it inside his shadow for a day or two.


    Ufror''s Cloak. A weird magical item that absorbed the light surrounding it. ording to the description, it could lessen the effectiveness of Luminous spells by almost up to 70% depending on the strength of the spell.


    After purchasing these from the Cosmics, Evin stopped looking through the list. Although Evin was sure that there were countless other more useful items, he didn''t wish to rue a lifelong debt trying to buy every single one of them. When he started making some more money, Evin would be happy to revisit this list.


    After all, the items he purchased up to this point almost cost him 400000 coins. This didn''t even include the Mana Complexes that he purchased afterwards.

 Chapter 233: Development of the Dimension

    Chapter 233: Development of the Dimension


    As Evin expected, Mana Complexes were the most expensive items on the list. Moreover, the fact that its price doubled with every Complex that Evin would own didn''t really help much as well. And perhaps because of its rarity, there really wasn''t much variety in this list.


    From what Evin could see, it seemed like the Cosmics held a certain monopoly over the energy supply and maintenance of Dimensions, which meant that most of the list contained various Mana Complexes built to support them.


    Unlike Evin''s dimension based on his shadow, most of them were made for dimensions based on the World of Thoughts or the World of Space purely. None of the other Worlds seemed verypatible with the idea of a dimension, though, there was one made for the World of Emotions. Evin was a bit curious about how thest one worked, but since there was no way for him to inquire about it, he soon forgot about it.


    Aside from Mana Complexes made for Dimensions, there were some for a mage''s personal use, and some artificers offering to make custom-made Mana Complexes.


    In the end, Evin ordered another Mana Complex for himself and rented one for his shadow. The first one was more than enough to supply his needs until he became a lesser-imposer, so Evin dly purchased the item. He also sent the details of his Channeling artifact, so they could easily wire the two together.


    The second one was to support the rate at which his Shadow Dimension increased in size. Although Evin felt that it was a bit overkill, he didn''t mind splurging a bit, since it was going to be tied to another service.


    At the end of it all, Evin had rued a debt of almost 550 thousand gold.


    ''I really thought I''d spend a bit more than this, but I guess this is alright. With this, I should start making money in about a year or two, depending on how well the banks do,'' Evin thought with satisfaction.


    But he wasn''t finished with his purchases yet. After all, he hadn''t finished looking through the non-magical category of the list.


    Though expectedly, the items and services in that list weren''t anything too bizarre: clothes, toys and games, books, decorations, furniture, fine art, all stuff that one would expect from such a list. Evin bought a few interesting books from it, looked through some furniture and skipped over to the next section, which was about services.


    What he was more interested in was found in the development services, particrly one that said [Comprehensive Development of a Dimension].


    This service was foreshadowed in the previous section about dimensions, which was one of the reasons why Evin decided to rent another Mana Complex for his shadow.


    Evin looked through the details and found that it was a business that was willing to build a proper town, a military base, some kind of specialized facility, or just fancy a mansion inside a Dimension. Naturally they would sign a non-disclosure agreement with Evin, in which they agreed to not speak of anything that they saw inside the dimension.


    It was a bit weird to see it added on the non-magical category, but Evin wasn''t going to dwell on that. For Evin, who was wondering what he was going to do with his dimension, this was a godsend, or should one say, a goddess-send opportunity.


    The total cost of the development varied from the amount of residents inside the Dimension, so for Evin''s 80 or so World Sprites, it was rtively cheap. Only a few thousand gold for the cheapest option, which only included the buildings and the very minimal form of infrastructure. Weird how some of the random and useless magical artifacts cost around the same amount of gold, not even mentioning the useful ones that Evin bought.


    Obviously, Evin wasn''t such a cheapskate. He considered the middle-high level of development at the least, which cost him a modest amount of 8000 gold. This included a sewage system, a house with a proper bathroom and lighting for every resident, plus six misceneous buildings that Evin wanted (a central building, an inn, cksmithing ce, bakery, fishery, clothing, barber, etc.).


    Evin didn''t know what the World Sprites would do with all these buildings, but thinking of the future, where one day an actual town might take root here, Evin wanted to put down the best foundations a city could have. He also considered upgrading the infrastructure in preparation for maybe a 1000 or so people to take root here, but he didn''t want tomit too hard into this. He decided to first try it out with the World Sprites and see how everything worked.


    He also didn''t know where this little project of his would take him in the end, but since it was interesting, he didn''t mind investing in it and see where it goes.


    ''Now, I just have to wait until the Cosmics take care of everything for me,'' Evin thought with satisfaction, closed the list and gave Rith the small note of things that he wanted to purchase.


    After stretching, he entered his shadow and found Runa and Enri talking to each other on a patch of grass, as the other... genderless, humanoid-shaped, ck World Sprites listened from the sidelines.


    From around the Dimension Core, random patches of grass started growing, which was quite miraculous, considering the fact that Evin didn''t remember nting any grass seeds, or anything organic. Rith exined that it happens due to the effect of the Dimension Core and the constant supply of mana, but Evin still found it all quite dubious.


    ''But considering the fact that this ce might develop ores and lodestones veins in the future, I suppose it''s natural'' Evin pondered with a sigh.


    [Evin.]


    [Big Brother!]


    Enri and Runa noticed Evin appear in the vicinity and came over alongside the rest of the troupe.


    "You can take a break from teaching the World Sprites sometimes you know? I feel as if you''re always speaking of one thing or another whenever I nce inside my shadow," Evin said smilingly.


    [We do get breaks, when we go to sleep at night,] Runa replied.


    ''How are you all so hardworking, even though I''m probably one of the bigger advocates of cking off on this damn World,'' Evin thought as he looked at the World Sprites.


    "Don''t you get tired of broadcasting your mind all day and every day?" he asked.


    [It''s not as hard as you imagine. We just make it so that our stray thoughts are broadcasted every moment of the day. After all, we think of one thing or another all the time,] Enri exined.


    ''Huh? Won''t that just turn these World Sprites intoplete copies of you two?''


    "Although I admire your efforts for the time being, just teach them the words, alright?" Evin said.


    ''Actually, since I''m bringing in a bunch of construction crew in the near future, I can easily bring in a few teachers and have them teach the World Sprites. Though how would that even work? They would have to be mages, as well, since Enri and Runa can only talk through telepathy,'' Evin thought a bit about the idea.


    [Really? But you told us to teach them all we know,] Runa asked cutely.


    "Well, you can take a small break from that, since I''ve just hired a bunch of people to start building a town here. You''re finally going to have your own houses and dwellings," Evin dered smilingly.


    After the cheers and excitement toned down a bit, Evin also exined his ns about their education.


    "I''m also thinking of hiring a group of teachers for you all with them."


    [What''s a teacher?] Enri asked.


    [Oh, I know what it is!] Runa giggle happily.


    "It''s someone whose job is to exin to kids like you how certain things work in life. Things like mathematics, history, physics, all that good stuff. Obviously, I''ll be there to teach you other things, so don''t worry about that."


    [I''ll be waiting for your arrangements.]


    [Okay, big brother! Also, Enri says that the other siblings are bing bigger, but I don''t really see it,] Runa said in her usually high-tone, while Enri was as stoic as ever.


    The contrast amused Evin greatly, but he steered his mind to the statement from Runa and investigated the World Sprite, wondering if they were taller than before or something. But as far as he could notice, he couldn''t really see the difference.


    "Are you sure? I don''t really see anything different," Evin said and held one of the children in his hands, wondering if they were heavier.


    [It''s a very small difference, but they''re definitely bigger. Maybe if you don''t visit here for a few days ande back, you can see it.]


    [Don''t say that! Just measure them andpare it!] Runa retorted.


    "Well, it wouldn''t hurt to measure them," Evin said, but was faced with a problem. He didn''t have any measuring tools, or any nks of wood to draw on either.


    "I''ll be right back," he exined and went out to get the necessary things.

 Chapter 234: Naming ceremony

    Chapter 234: Naming ceremony


    Even though he was fairly sure that the Thought Imprint left by Veidrakar was much more detailed than any normal one, he still made sure to leave a note for Sasha, so the girl didn''t wake up all confused and lost.


    Half an hourter, he came back from the forest, with a hundred or so tree saplings inside his Storage Ring and another idea that popped into his mind. He finally resolved himself to name all the World Sprites today.


    ''I''m a bit dumb to only remember this now, but when I gave Enri her name, she definitely became much smarterpared to before. So I should just take on the task like a champ and name all the World Sprites once and for all,'' Evin decided.


    Noting that Sasha was still asleep, Evin fell into his shadow once more.


    "Alright, I''ve decided to give all of you names, but first, let''s nt all these trees around this ce," he then dered to the World Sprites.


    Evin made sure to properly get the sapling''s roots with some dirt in the storage ring, so after some unustomed work with the World of Earth, he was finished with the mass nting after an hour.


    And while he was at it, he made sure to observe everything from above and arrange the trees in the nicest way he could imagine which just turned out to be 7 groups of 3x4 trees, totaling up to 84 trees in total. Four short of the 88 World Sprites he had (including Runa and Enri). Evin easily solved the problem by putting the odd four in the center, and then arranging the seven 3x4 columns around it, turning it all into a monument made of trees of some sorts. He also made sure to leave considerable spaces for the trees to grow big in the future.


    Sasha was still asleep outside his shadow, so there were no new developments on that front.


    ''As I suspected, Lady Veidra''s gift takes some time to unfold,'' Evin thought idly and focused on the task at hand.


    "Alright, everyone, pick a tree and stand next to it. When I get to you, I''ll give you a name and cut your height into the tree," Evin dered and watched as the World Sprites scurried to random trees.


    Weirdly, the World Sprites could very clearly understand his orders, but it felt to Evin as if they only understood Evin''s intent behind it, not the words themselves. Although a bit inappropriate, they were like pet dogs in that regard.


    But Evin decided not to dwell on it, as he was pretty sure the World Sprites were going to be as smart as most kids very soon.


    Sighing, he approached the first World Sprite. Compared to the others, this one was a boy of considerable height and had curly short hair scattered around his head. But one thing that caught Evin''s attention was his sharp eyes that made a weird contradiction with the usually rxed, and almost dumb expression the World Sprites had.


    ''This one feels like a Draco,'' Evin thought and named him thus. He then carved Draco''s name onto the tree and also left his measurement on it.


    He looked at Draco for a bit to see whether he undertook any changes, but nothing seemed to be happening, so he continued on.


    The next one in line was a short girl with a naturally cutesy expression. Evin wasn''t quite sure, but he was fairly certain that if the girl wasn''t a mass of darkness, her hair would be on the brighter side of the color spectrum, perhaps a blonde or fire-red one like Arza''s.


    "You''ll be Aya," Evin decided and repeated the same procedure: he carved Aya''s name and height onto her tree and moved on.


    A male World Sprite with his hair split in curtains looked back at Evin, in a scrutinizing, almost annoyed way. ''What''s this idiot staring at me for?'' it seemed to be thinking, which made Evin chuckle lightly, despite himself.


    "Alright, you''ll be D," Evin said smilingly, hoping he wouldn''t go around naming the World Sprites as letters any more.


    Next to D was a girl with quite the sharp features. Although her age suggested that she was only 10 or so years old, she seemed tock the baby fat that made kids and teenagers look cute and childish in people''s eyes. Her hollow dead gaze also didn''t help with the dark aura that came from the girl.


    "I guess you''re Skoll," Evin gave a suitable sounding name and moved on.


    Next in line was a tall girl, with long, silky hair fluttering on her sides. She had a barely noticeable half-smile on her face, which almost looked belittling and mocking to Evin. But while her expression was a bit jarring, Evin could clearly see the intelligence hiding behind her deep dark eyes.


    "You''ll be Lapis," Evin said after thinking a bit, satisfied with name he came up.


    Next to Lapis stood a boy with a very peculiar hair, one which defied gravity and gathered up all around the boy''s head in all its curliness and fluffiness. Moreover, a seemingly eternal smile was stered on the boy''s face, forcing Evin to fight back the urge to hug and tease the boy.


    "Let''s name you Vollrath," Evin said happily and carved the boy''s new name unto the tree.


    Next in line was a boy that Evin actually recognized. The boy usually had a strict look on his face, but whenever Rith came inside Evin''s shadow, his seriousness would be reced with avid curiosity and softness. After Evin noticed this, he let him hold Rith in his hands, thinking that perhaps it will trigger a growth spurt or something. Obviously, nothing substantial happened, but it was fun to see the boy making a satisfied face with Rith in his hands.


    "Namipa," Evin murmured and carved the name on the tree.


    Next to Namipa was a tall boy, coolly looking at Evin with a calm gaze, one which Evin also recognized. Whenever he appeared inside the shadow, more often than not, this boy would notice him appearing first. And after he recognized that it was Evin, he wouldn''t make a fuss and just look back to whatever he was doing before. Evin was sure that this one was one of the smartest World Sprites in his shadow.


    "Lucario seems fitting enough," Evin said and saw the boy nod slightly in approval.


    Evin smiled and looked at the next World Sprite. Amusingly, this one was extremely simr to Lucario. Simrly tall, with a confident posture; a sharp, inspecting expression; and a charismatic face that instilled a feeling safety in an onlooker. But, there was one w in the boy''s perfect faade. The boy''s eyes betrayed the nervousness and panic which was brewing inside him. Darting all over the ce with sharp and random movements, a clear contrast to the unassuming, confident gait he showed with his body.


    "You can be Einz," Evin said and finally left the boy in peace.


    After Einz, came one of the tallest girls between the World Sprites, one with a charming short hair fluttering around her face. Evin recognized the girl pretty clearly, because whenever he visited the World Sprites in his shadow, this one woulde running at him the fastest, excitedly jumping around him in an almost exaggerated manner. Her free-spirited nature helped Evin choose a name pretty quickly.


    "Briese," he decided and carved the name on the tree.


    ''That makes it 10. This is quite fun,'' Evin thought gleefully and continued on with the task at hand.

 Chapter 235: Aran

    Chapter 235: Aran


    An hour and a halfter, Evin finally finished naming all the World Sprites. Although it was a bit disappointing that none of them showed any serious change in their behavior, Evin was still pretty happy with the fact that he was finally finished with this task.


    He then left his shadow and nced at the sleeping Sasha.


    ''Although I trust Lady Veidra''s skills, I would be lying if I say I wasn''t worried,'' Evin thought and gazed through Sasha''s soul with his eagle vision, wondering if there was something to be found there.


    Unfortunately for him, nothing out of the ordinary could be found in the state of Sasha''s soul, so he could only give up and wait patiently, casually ying around with some illusions he learned from the book he''d gifted to Be.


    But, as he was waiting, he heard his father calling out his name from somewhere in the house. Sighing, he got up to see what the fuss was.


    He soon saw a familiar mage sitting in the living room with Theor and Lora, waving at Evin with a wry smile.


    "Look who''se. Didn''t he also grow big like your boy? Though I guess he can''tpare to the red-hair''s growth!" Theorughed loudly.


    "Oh hi, Aran," Evin greeted and walked over to shake the man''s hand.


    Thetter seemed to be a bit taken aback with the casual greeting, but replied ordingly nheless.


    "Hello, Evin. How are you enjoying your holidays?"


    "Pretty good. I''m actually managing to finish a lot of stuff, though," Evin said casually.


    "Umm, sorry for this, but could you two leave us alone for a while? Mage business," Aran asked Evin''s parents.


    Theor seemed a bit unhappy, but with Lora''s prodding, he left the room. Aran cast a spell to keep the sound from leaking and offered Evin to sit.


    "When have youe back?"


    "This morning."


    "Nice to see you haven''t run into any idents on the South again," Evinmented, noticing that there weren''t any more scars to be found on the man''s body, at least nothing out in the open. The man''s psyche also seemed unaffected, with his calm attitude oozing out a certain aura of stability and control.


    ''Weird how I feel like Aran''s never the one to feel surprised by most things,'' Evin thought idly.


    "It mighte as a surprise to some, but you learnt how to best survive in the south after a few months of fighting there," Aran replied sardonically.


    "Now that you mention it, you''re finally finished with your due diligence to the Kingdom, huh?" Evin asked.


    "Oh, definitely. I''m even thinking of stilting my studies on magic for the next few years, so I don''t identally discover something new."


    "Just give whatever it is to the kingdom, I''m sure it''s not worth spending the rest of your days fighting an endless war," Evin said casually.


    "I guess it depends on what I discover through my efforts" Aran sighed and chuckled lightly: "But enough about me. Howe Ie to my house and find out that my son had be 4 years older in only half a year?"


    Evin pulled out the Time Bomb from his Storage Ring and showed it to Aran.


    "An ident happened and we fell under the effects of Time Energy. We both got a couple extra years of growth, which should be about my size for normal kids, but supposedly your child was destined to grow bigger than most others," Evin exined calmly.


    "Is that so Well, I suppose it''s not that shocking to see an actual Time Bomb, considering that you both have stronger mana-cores than me," Aran smiled wryly.


    "Hey, you yourself told me to take care of your child''s growth. Don''tin after I do a good job of it. Tsk, so ungrateful," Evin tsked with a mocking smile.


    "Hehe, I was under the impression that you weren''t so happy to ept the task of guiding Arza. It''s just a bit surprising to see such drastic effects in such a short time."


    "It is a small matter for one of such greatness such as I. If you have any more requests or wished, perhaps I''ll be willing to grant it for you," Evin said in a smug tone.


    "I''d rather keep the surprises to a minimum. It''s bad for my heart to worry about sudden consequences," Aran said meaningfully.


    ''Worry about consequences? Does he think there are strings attached to Arza''s powerup?''


    "You don''t have to worry about any future problems. As far as I know, there aren''t any written obligations that Arza has to follow through. He should have a World Contract regarding that, which you could read through... Though, I wouldn''t be surprised if he felt obliged to help his master back," Evin exined in a serious tone.


    "Is that so? Then I''ll make sure to check that out," Aran said thoughtfully.


    "And also, there''s also a metal skinshifter named Karan with Arza. If you''re still worried, you can strike a conversation with him. He should know much more about the boy than me," Evin reminded, shocking Aran once more. He decided not to mention Karan''s whereabouts when he first found him, but since the skinshifter fell into Arza''s hands, Evin felt it proper to remind Aran about the fact.


    "Seriously, you and your surprises" Aran sighed lightly, before asking again: "Also, there are these asional pink lighting shes that spark on his body now, is that normal? As far as I know, none of the Life mages I know do that."


    "Oh, those started appearing due to a fairly recent event Though, I''m not sure if I''m allowed to speak of it. Did you ask Arza himself?"


    "I did, but he didn''t seem willing to talk about it, so I could only ask you."


    "Well, if he''s not willing, then I''m probably not allowed to talk about it as well. Though, rest assured that it''s a good thing for Arza," Evin reassured the man.


    Aran seemed a bit unconvinced, but since he knew that there were few things he could do about it, epted the exnation without issue.


    Finished with the exchange of information, Evin and Aran invited Theor and Lora into the room again, and they started to catch up.


    Evin excused himself soon after and went upstairs to stand guard near Sasha. But, when he entered the room, he noticed that the girl was already up, idly reading the piece of paper he left for her.

 Chapter 236: Iva

    Chapter 236: Iva


    "Hmm, have you slept well?" Evin asked, after making sure that nothing was off or weird about Sasha at first nce thought the girl did seem a bit dazed and out of it all.


    Sasha looked back with a him, but soon after, her brows creased and an expression of annoyance took over her face.


    "What did you put inside my head?" She then asked with a grunt.


    "What? Isn''t there information about creating artifacts through the World of Thoughts? I don''t think it''s possible for Lady Veidrakar to make a mistake" Evin murmured musingly.


    "Is that what this thing is talking about? But there''s also a bickering system inside my head, telling me to do this and do that every living minute since I woke up!" Sasha said annoyedly.


    "A system? Why would you use the term system?" Evin asked, a bit confused after hearing the rarely used word from his sister.


    "That''s because the thing itself is calling it that: "The All-epassing System of Imaginary Artifact Creation,"" Sasha said.


    "Is that so What else is it saying?" Evin asked curiously.


    "Something about it being stuck inside the Contract for way too long, and about how ungrateful you are in handling it," Sasha said with difficulty, clearly unused to having a voice speak inside her head.


    ''Sounds like the thing has a consciousness of some sorts, one with an attitude as well Who knew that Lady Veidra had these kinds of hobbies?'' Evin thought with amusement.


    Perhaps if this was the Evin of one year ago, he might''ve been surprised, or even fearful, but Evin was so used to dealing with such things, he''d honestly became numb to it, only thinking to himself that maybe having invasive systems and voices inside their head ran in his family''s blood.


    "Can you make me talk with it?" Evin asked, but before Sasha could answer, Evin found himself entering the World of Thoughts and a child-like voice suddenly appeared in his mind, in the same manner Karan and the World Sprites spoke to Evin.


    [Stop calling me it!]


    Weirdly, the voice did not sound like how the Authority herself, confusing Evin greatly. After a small dy, the figure behind the voice materialized in front of Evin, which turned out to have the exact same features as Sasha.


    "Oh, hello. I''m guessing you''re a Thought Imprint left by Lady Veidrakar," Evin greeted politely, curiously eyeing Sasha''s copy.


    "Call me the System! And how dare you keep me inside that scroll for such a long time? Aren''t you supposed to hurry to your sister the moment you receive such a huge boon?" the girl raged on in front of Evin.


    "I''m truly sorry. I didn''t think that you resided inside the Contract as well, and truly, I wasn''t in a hurry either, so things ended up being dyed," Evin said in all seriousness.


    "Who cares about your apologies? I demand a I don''t know what I''m going to demand, but I want a satisfactorypensation for the three months of nothingness I went through!"


    The System vented for a while, as Evin tried his best to seem considerate and listening. Evin probably wouldn''t have acted so uncaring, if he''d left Rith, or someone close to him alone in a Storage Ring for three months. But truthfully he wasn''t going to worry about aplete stranger like the system in front of him, mostly seeing its threats as no more than a form of venting.Though he did feel bad for it, so he felt that he should at least listen to the thingin.


    And also, although Evin felt more amusement than threat from the System''s antics, it didn''t hurt to y it safe and converse in a polite tone. After all, the Authority behind the thing was most definitely real, and much more powerful than Evin could ever hope to be.


    "I appreciate your honesty, but ugh, whatever. At least you didn''t wait years toe visit your sister again," she sighed.


    ''Finally she calmed down,'' Evin noted in his head.


    "Though, I must say I''m very curious about your existence, how it all works and how you came to be and why you''re named such in the first ce," Evin couldn''t help but ask.


    "As I said before, I''m the System tasked with teaching the Imaginary Artifact Creation, a rare method of creating artifacts. As for how I came to be, the exact same method I just spoke about, one that I will impart upon your sister''s mind."


    ''Ah, I suppose it''s natural that the method can create these things After all, it''s core attribute is its unbounded creativity,'' Evin thought with fascination.


    "And do you have a name of any kind? It feels a bit weird to call you system all the time."


    "You may call me IA System, or Iva for short," the Iva said proudly.


    Evin wanted to respond, but quickly found himself at a loss ofmon topics.


    "Well, I don''t have any more questions, I guess all that''s left is for you to teach everything you can to Sasha" he said, not really giving much thought to it all.


    "Oh, almost forgot. I need a huge amount of lodestones for her to work and practice with. I''m guessing she doesn''t really have much lying around, considering the fact that she''s not a real mage," Iva said meaningfully.


    "I suppose, how much do you need?" Evin asked.


    "Two tons of crystal lodestones should do for the time being, and in the future, it would be even better if you can get your hands on a Mana Complex as well," she replied brazenly.


    Evin didn''t mind obtaining therge amount for his sister, since he had about 400 kgs on person, and he was about to receive a manaplex for himself as well. But he couldn''t help but notice the problem with Iva''s casual demand.


    "I don''t think Sasha will be able to burn through two tons of mana in two weeks or can she?" Evin asked skeptically.


    "It''s just as insurance. And besides, after a few weeks of Cirction Training, I''m sure she''ll be up to those standards in no time," Iva said casually.


    ''Is she hell bent on making Sasha train all day and night?'' Evin thought rmingly, reminded of the torturously slow progress he made the Cirction of his own mana-core.


    "Can you tell me about your ideal training routine for a child?" Evin asked skeptically.


    "Naturally, I let them sleep and eat. After all, their greatest desire in life should be to be a proficient and sessful Artificer."


    "Hmm."


    ''I remember Lady Hin saying something about the Artifacts created by this method need to have a downside, or weakness of some sorts to work best Is this weird personality of Iva''s the supposed downside?''

 Chapter 237: Arrangements

    Chapter 237: Arrangements


    ''Though, can a certain personality be considered a deficiency?'' Evin thought, wondering if perhaps he was judging the girl a bit too harshly. But thinking about it a bit deeper, the answer became apparent.


    ''Of course a personality can be ssified as a deficiency, what am I even hesitating about? Though I wouldn''t go as far to call Iva''s personality a deficiency she just seems childish and naive at most.''


    Evin pondered about the matter for a bit, but still couldn''t quite feel convinced of it all. He felt that something made by an Authority shouldn''t be something so iplete. The thought even made him feel like he was being a bit too entitled, but Evin couldn''t shake off the feeling of disappointment in his head.


    "Do you have a note or something simr that was left by Lady Veidrakar?" Evin asked, wondering if she left an exnation of some sorts.


    "Why would you want to see that? Anyway, are you going to give me the two tons or not?" Iva asked almost hostilely.


    "So there is something," Evin said and started pestering the System for the note.


    Eventually, Iva gave up and threw Evin an almost ethereal piece of paper.


    [You must be wondering if there was some sort of mistake, considering how the System should be acting. Unfortunately for you, this is the best method I have to impart the method most effectively to your sister,] the note began.


    Evin read through the note and found that his spection about the system being a bit wed to be correct. Since this whole thing was created through the Imaginary Artifact Creation, as the system said, there was a catch to it all.


    Apparently, the system would always have an avid passion for Imaginary Artificing, but they would also take on a form that was some sort of a negative extreme of the host''s personality.


    For example, if Sasha had a slightly cold personality, then Iva would act extremely devoid of any sort of emotion or feeling, acting almost borderline psychopathic in the eyes of others (if they could perceive her, of course). If Sasha turned out to be a person who upheld her own belief and logic in the highest standard, then Iva would never consider or care about what anyone else thought and felt about certain topics, even Sasha herself. An EQ of close to zero, so to say.


    Evin didn''t know which category the Iva in front of him fell under, but he wasn''t going to worry about this much. After all, he didn''t really know much about Sasha, so he really couldn''t make any good guesses.


    ''But if I have to make a guess, then I suppose Sasha''s a bit childish and attention-seeking,'' Evin concluded and read further.


    [Obviously, Iva wouldn''t bepletely dysfunctional, as that would make them almost unbearable to handle. She could be convinced of something through proper argument, acting almost identically to actual, real people. Sure, she might forget about it, or just choose to ignore these previous conversations (depending on her personality), but that was a different problem,] the note read.


    After reading a bit further, Evin learned that these negative personalities would be mended slowly, as the host became more proficient with the Artificing method. Iva would also be growing alongside its host.


    The Authority didn''t mention anything about what would happen if Sashapleted the entire training arc with Iva, which was a bit concerning.


    Moreover, Veidrakar made it so that Iva couldn''t disobey direct orders of Sasha (though she could protest about it all she wanted) and she also left a method to block out Iva''s voice for an hour, and... to also get rid of her <em>once and for all</em> if things became a bit too unbearable for Sasha to handle.


    ''What the fuck? Artificial system or not, isn''t it a bit fucked up to let a teen decide its life and death?'' Evin thought with creased brows, wondering what the hell goes on through the heads of these Authorities.


    Evin read further to see whether there were any other important info, but Veidrakar had only described the method to block out or delete Iva and the note ended there. It didn''t include anything about whether Evin should tell Sasha about these things, giving him the impression that the Authority was giving him free rein to decide what to do with the information.


    Frowning, Evin looked at Iva, who was quietly sitting next to him with a worried look on her face. Evin could obviously tell that she knew what Sasha and Evin could do to her.


    "Have you told any of this to Sasha?" he asked.


    "No, I don''t have to," Iva replied.


    "Shit, ugh. Alright. I won''t tell Sasha about the method to get rid of you, but I will tell her the method to block you out. I will talk to her and exin how you''re an extreme manifestation of her personality, which should help a bit with her epting you more easily," Evin said slowly.


    "Uh-huh," Iva replied, a relieved look bing apparent in her eyes.


    "But, I want you to remember that Sasha probably won''t be as excited as you about Imaginary Artificing. I talked to her a few hours ago, and I could guess that she probably had a dream job in her mind of some sorts. Perhaps she wanted to be a baker like our parents, or maybe she wanted to be a clothing designer of some sorts. What I''m trying to tell you is that your passion will note first for Sasha. Maybe she will grow excited about it one day, but don''t expect too much on the first day," Evin exined.


    Iva nodded slowly, seemingly pondering about the intricacies of her new rtion with Sasha.


    "But, to be honest, it''s a thing between you and Sasha, so I''ll try my best to stay out of it all," Evin said with faked confidence.


    He could think of so many ways where this whole arrangement could end inplete disaster, it wasn''t even funny. He wanted to make it so that Sasha couldin about Iva to him if things ever went too unbearable and vice versa, where Sasha started to abuse the blocking feature endlessly.


    After all, sharing your everything with someone else inside your head wasn''t really the easiest feeling to get used to. Evin could handle it, and even enjoy it a bit, since he severelycked such invasiveness for the past three centuries, but he couldn''t really say the same for Sasha.


    But, Evin thought that maybe that was too meddling of him and decided not to say anything extra to the two. After all, Sasha wasn''t apletely nave, and she possessed a silver horn, which made her smarter than the average 11-year-old. It could almost be argued that she was smarter than most adults.


    At any rate, the two got out of the World of Thoughts and Evin started exining things to Sasha: about his initial conversation with Hin and Veidrakar; the dragon''s exnation of how the inheritance worked and how Iva was a slightly distorted version of herself.


    The girl seemed a bit shocked to hear that all this was the arrangement of Veidrakar, the almighty Authority of the World of Thoughts, which made her appreciate everything with a bit more gratitude. She also seemed to look at Evin with a new light, something that almost seemed to border on reverence.


    Evin made sure to quickly destroy these delusions from his sister''s mind.


    He then left almost all the lodestones he had to Sasha and ordered a two tons with a Storage Ring from the Cosmics as well.


    After everything was finished, he left the room with a sigh, a foreboding feeling inside his chest.


    ''I''m suing Veidrakar if things go to shit,'' Evin thought resolutely as he fell onto his bed.


    Sighing, he perked up his ears, and could hear Aran and his parents talking in the house about them bing 1st grades during Aran''s absence.


    ''Guess they''ll end up arranging a dinner of some sorts between the two families'' Evin thought and went to take a bath in advance.


    Though, he could easily clean himself up with some magic, like he usually did, Evin decided to do it in a bath since that was much calming than just ridding of his smell and dirt in a few seconds.


    "How can I feel this tired and stressed even though, I''m just 7? This is definitely not a kid friendly world..." he muttered with a weary sigh.


    "Well, I''ve done everything I came here to do, so I guess I can be proud of that. Though, starting from the day after, I''ll have to work hard on my magical studies... Howe it feels like I''ve only taken a break for three days at most? This is such a scam..." Evin started talking in Earth''s English, talking about all the things he felt unfair, while slouching in his bathtub.


    ...

 Chapter 238: A month

    Chapter 238: A month


    ''Weird how all my work gets piled up to one day all the time,'' Evin thought casually, as he waited far outside the Ekhri Tribe for the Cosmics to bring in the Construction crew for his shadow.


    After Evin gave Rith the list all the services and items he desired, a few dayster, a huge package came through Rith, which included the three magical artifacts, the two Manaplexes, a kilogram of twelve World affiliated materials, a pile of books and some other misceneous items.


    One more surprise that came with the package was a man named Snyden, who represented the Construction crew which was in charge of developing Evin''s dimension. Although the man was a bit surprised to see Evin to be such a young mage, he quickly put on a serious business face when he confirmed that everything was legit though Evin could see that the man was definitely trying to keep himself from speaking condescendingly/belittling to him.


    Evin couldn''t really do much about it, because of the way he looked, but he felt the need to speak much more maturely, so Snyder didn''t feel like bullying him.


    In any case, Evin exined to the man about what he wanted to do with his dimension, while Snyden made some suggestions here and there. Evin exined to the man that he had a small arrangement of trees inside which Snyder might need to consider while nning, but Snyden only shrugged and told Evin he''d do the nning on site. The two only had to agree on the buildings and the other details.


    At the end of it all, Evin agreed toy the foundations for a city that could potentially support five thousand people, with central infrastructure that was befitting of such a huge city; magical artifacts that could recreate the effects rain and sunshine; some other items that could help the growth of soil in the shadow; plus, an artificial forest with arge clear waterke nearby.


    Snyden also talked about more ''luxury''ndscapes, such as waterfalls, oases, jungles, deserts and even volcanoes for some reason, but Evin decided to stop there.


    Evin also decided to have many other buildings built inside his shadow along the ones, like aboratory, a library, a school (which Evin had to partially design himself, since he felt that school buildings in Alvox sucked), a mill, a hospital, and a few empty buildings that were supposed to bemercial buildings.


    Obviously, all of these buildings would be unattended for some time, but Evin didn''t wish to hire Construction crews for every little thing, so he decided to just have them build it all at once.


    ''Though I won''t lie and say I wasn''t excited about a ghost town only upied by children he-he,'' Evin thought evilly.


    He even considered kidnapping some people and throwing them inside the town after it was finished, but the ursed Oaths forbid him from having his fill of fun.


    At any rate, the price of the development went up to about 50000 gold, but Evin was very satisfied with the purchase, as he felt the price was fitting for a town of this size.


    ''As for the money, well, I''m sure that I would eventually reach a state where my brain just stops registering prices altogether'' Evin thought smugly.


    Even though he wasn''t really making any money, Rith still dutifully gave him the financial reports of the Bank, which showed that he was quickly paying back his debts in the background.


    Although there was no sign of the surge of a new Cosmic Currency which were named Nekos, Evin was sure the Elmes Group was working hard on thinking of a way in which they profited the most from his new idea.


    And besides, he was already benefiting from the Contract, so there were no worries on that front.


    [When do you think they''re going toe?] Enri casually asked from inside his shadow, but Evin could detect the veiled excitement in her voice.


    [Any minute now,] Evin replied and nced inside his shadow.


    The World Sprites were sitting near their trees in his shadow, all wearing the same matching clothes. After Evin gave them names, the World Sprites started to quickly grow to be more and more humanoid like.


    First of all, the boys and girls developed their respective genitalia, which forced Evin to purchase clothes for them to cover themselves. They also started to grow patches of human skins over their coal-ck bodies, which gradually covered their bodies in whole.


    And weirdly, these skins of theirs seemed to function only as a beautifying detail of some sorts. Evin saw the World Sprites peel, or rub them off without any signs of experiencing pain or difort, while the skins in question would regenerate over time, as if nothing ever happened in the first ce.


    Evin wondered if he would see organs being developed inside the World Sprite''s bodies, but since there was no way of knowing that without cutting them into pieces, he quickly got rid of his curiosity. Though he was sure that their insides would be very different from his own, judging from the fact that the World Sprites still didn''t need to eat or drink.


    ''Besides, the Somaturgy Expert will be in charge of studying them extensively, so I don''t have to worry about it all. Pretty sure he''ll be able to scan through their bodies with the World of Life anyway,'' Evin thought idly.


    At any rate, these skins made the World Sprites lookpletely human at a nce, with only their pitch-ck eyes to hint that there was something weird about them. But Evin was very confident that those too would eventually turn human like, with the outer part of their eyes turning white like a normal human.


    Obviously, aside from physical developments, the World Sprites'' thinking capabilities also went up a few levels and they started to speak much more coherently through telepathy. Evin could even see some of them trying to use their mouths to speak as well.


    Evin expected to see them divide into different opposing groups like how a normal societies usually turned out, but the World Sprites were weirdly in sync with each other, never arguing or shing between themselves. Though they did develop a hierarchy of some sorts where they elected Enri and Runa as their leaders, with Lucario, D and two other World Sprites named Keyes and G bing the sub-leaders.


    Evin could also see that they might be further divided into what they were more interested in, with the fact that Ayn, Vyn and Lyn were usually surrounded by a few World Sprites who constantly talked about Magic, while Enri had a few dedicated followers who usually spent their times chilling on her fur. Naturally, Evin was part of thetter group.


    In any case, the simple structure of the World Sprites made it very easy for Evin to work with them. Though, for the time being, he only needed to teach them some basic things about Alvox and the things that could be found inside it. The World Sprites, on the other hand, learned whatever Evin taught like a sponge, constantly demanding Evin to spend more time with them.


    Evin tried to find a proper teacher for them, but none of these teachers were mages, so he could only buy some teaching materials and use them to teach the World Sprites himself.


    ''Now that I think about it, I should really give the Vulpine Mother a visit, huh?'' Evin was suddenly reminded of the Beast Lord and decided to give her a visit on a day off or something, since the pile of things he needed to tell her were bing a bit too big.


    One of those things was his uing experiments with the Somaturgy expert which, just happened to be nned to start today. Nasst had just told him the previous day that the Expert wasing to his mansion in the afternoon.


    This was the reason why Evin was wondering why his work seemed to pile up on certain days.


    ''But, I''ll worry about that after I finish this,'' Evin thought as he noticed a portal was appearing in front of him.

 Chapter 239: Magical construction

    Chapter 239: Magical construction


    Evin quickly started floating, so he didn''t have to look up while talking to Snyden. It was a trick he learned eventually, where if he wanted to be taken seriously, he would float at eye level with whoever he was talking.


    From the other side of the portal, a line of people came strolling with Snyden in the lead. Evin counted three well-dressed females other than Snyden, which he presumed were mages, and a fifty or so non-mages in total, all male and cleanly dressed, though not so fashionably.


    ''Gender discrimination?'' Evin thought amusedly, but quickly disposed the useless stray thought.


    "There''s our client, he-he!" the man eximed as he walked over to Evin to shake his hand, "Sorry if I''ve kept you waiting, eh? Took a bit of time to gather all the materials needed for your project," the man said in a lively tone.


    "No worries, after all, it''s easy for us mages to keep ourselves entertained," Evin said.


    The man seemed much more politepared to thest time he talked with Evin, which Evin really appreciated.


    "That it is. Anyway, let''s sign the Non-disclosure agreement and we can get to work," Snyden said and brought out a bundle of papers.


    Evin wanted to put everything on a World Contract, but sadly, the things weren''t so easy to acquire that every business used them. So, he had to trust the integrity of Snyden''s group and the Cosmic affiliation that it had.


    "There are a few rather special children inside, so please don''t startle, or be startled by them," Evin said, after everyone finished signing on their Agreements.


    "You were so secretive about your dimension thest time we talked, I even had some dreams about it afterwards, you know?" Snydenughed and the rest of his group followed behind.


    "Please don''t panic," Evin shrugged and channeled some energy to his shadow, which in turn widened and slowly engulfed everyone present. He then made the dimension essible to everyone present and the next moment, Snyden''s group appeared inside his shadow.


    Snyden whistled as he floated above the ground to look at the ce in detail.


    "Never thought I''d see a real dimension in a shadow Only heard that the Oathbreaker has one in his possession, though his ce doesn''t sound like it''s something so clean and nice as yours," he thenmented as hended next to Evin.


    "Oathbreaker?" Evin asked, curious about the new name he just heard.


    "The current Mage King of the West A very mysterious man, to say the least. One of the strongest super-imposers who got famous by breaking the many Oaths and World Contracts he made over the years, which ended up crippling him greatly, but somehow ended up bing the one who enforced those Oaths upon others. In any case, some say that his shadow also works simrly to yours and houses countless horrifying creatures of darkness in it instead of a bunch of kids," Snyden said wryly, gesturing at the World Sprites, who looked at the new group with unveiled fascination.


    ''How professional...'' Evin thought thankfully. He was d that the man, or anyone from his group for that matter, didn''t inquire about the World Sprites and also didn''t give Evin some weird looks for keeping a group of children in his shadow.


    ''Or perhaps they''ve seen many simr scenes in other dimensions and became numb to it...? Wait, ain''t that bad?''


    Evin eventually rid himself of the random thoughts and focused on the conversation.


    "Well, I got this all from the Cosmics, so I thought that more people would have dimensions simr to mine, although they could be pretty rare."


    "Well, sadly, I myself only know hearsay about those dimensions as well, so I''m afraid I won''t be able to tell you anything useful. And besides, it doesn''t change the job we gotta do," Snyden shrugged and floated up once more to see thendscape again.


    Evin could see the man take on a silver hue for a second, beforeing back down. He then pulled out a piece of paper and started drawing with inhuman speed. A minuteter, he gave Evin the paper, which had a fairly detailed first draft for the town. Evin looked at the paper for a while, before nodding with fascination.


    Aside from the buildings being arranged in a circr way that was very pleasing to the eyes, Snyden had also left some reasonable exnations for his choice of their locations, like living areas being a bit distanced from the noisier central areas which included the business buildings and the central hall He''d even left some empty space that was reserved for possible future projects like workshops, smelting stations, and cksmithing ces.


    As far as Evin could tell, there wasn''t much to judge about it all, even if he wanted to be nitpicky. Even the arrangement of underground infrastructure like the sewage lines seemed perfectly nned.


    "Very impressive," hemented in the end.


    "Well, your dimension is rtively empty, which makes my job very easy. And your arrangement of the trees there also helped me decide the overall shape of the town to be a collection of circr pockets. Almost everyone opts for a neat arrangement of perfect squares or rectangles, which honestly, gets a bit boring after the 20th time. I''m a goddamn artist at heart, not someone who draws a bunch of squares! Though, don''t tell my other clients that, alright?" Snydenughed.


    "Don''t worry about that. Anyway, let''s go with this n, if you don''t have any other revisions."


    "Perfect. Ah, how I wish every customer was the same as you, so unpretentious and easy to talk with. Some people just can''t get over their need to make at least 10 revisions before starting the project... Sigh,e on over, girls," Snyden said with a big sigh and called over the three mages.


    The three looked over the n for a bit as Snyden described some details, and then the group went towards the monument of trees, where the World Sprites were chilling.


    One of the female mages pulled out a gigantic pile of what should be limestone, dirt and pebbles from a storage ring and started mixing them together. The other pulled out a river of muddy water and started mixing them together with the earthen mess that the other was working on.


    ''An Earth Mage and a Water Mage...'' Evin thought, pleasantly surprised by the fact that he wasn''t being weirded out by the sight of the swirling mass of muddy water.


    The non-mages, on the other hand, pulled out a variety of thinned out logs and nks (all of which seemed to be weightless) from Snyden''s storage ring, and started building a frame of a house. Some timeter, the two-girl-show continued to its next phase, and they started adding the binder to the wooden frames of buildings. The third mage, on the other hand, used a heating spell on the limestone to dry it faster.


    ''Cool,'' Evin thought and then walked over to the World Sprites to see Snyden''s group work on his town.

 Chapter 240: Mess of illusions

    Chapter 240: Mess of illusions


    Snyden''s group slowly worked on the buildings one by one, while the man himself oversaw everything from above. Seemingly satisfied by the progress, the man floated near Evin and started some small talk, asionally ncing at the World Sprites with veiled curiosity, especially therge, pitch ck fox who had a bunch of the children snuggling in its fur.


    To keep things secret, Evin had instructed the World Sprites to not talk at all and try not to peel off their skins while the crew worked. He actually wanted to hide them in some hidden ce, but the World Sprites seemed intent on watching, so he could only give up.


    Besides, they looked much too human to be mistaken for a World Sprite, so there wasn''t much to worry about there. Most likely, Snyden would think that these were children who contracted some disease that made their eyes go ck and at worst, he would think that they were the results some experiment that Evin imposed upon them. But since Evin acted very friendly with the World Sprites, the chances of thetter thought appearing was pretty low.


    "By the way, how long do you think the construction will take?" Evin asked meekly.


    "The girls should be finished with the buildings by tonight, and by tomorrow, we''ll have finished creating the forest and the river. The others will work on adding some life and detail to the buildings in the background which usually takes a bit longer, as you may guess."


    "So a week at least?"


    "Around that time, yes. The girls will help with decorations after they''re done with therger things, so yeah. If you want, you can go attend to any other business you might have. Though, I rmend you block off that window to the main World as you do it," Snyden said simply, pointing at the sky, which faintly showed the world outside.


    Even after Evin''s shadow became a full-fledged dimension, it still retained some of its old properties where the residents could nce at the World outside through the dimension''s sky.


    Naturally, Evin could disable this feature, but there were some problems.


    "Alright, but how are you going to see? Since this dimension is based on my shadow, its natural state isplete darkness," Evin said.


    "Well, you did buy some extra sun and rain from us. Come, let''s get some light and water inside this dimension of yours. Could you show me the Dimension Core?" Snyden asked.


    "Ah, give me a few moments," Evin stood up and excitedly walked towards a random spot in the tree arrangement he made.


    "What in the Empress'' arse is that?" Snyden said, as he looked at the abomination that Evin created. As a proficient World of Thoughts mage, he could definitely see the vomit inducing excuse of an illusion.


    Evin had hidden the Dimension Core behind such a convoluted and thickyer of illusions, a passing mage who was searching would simply see a mass of silver entanglement in the spot.


    This was Evin''s n to hide the Core. He knew many grand illusions from the book that Nasst gave him, but honestly, anyone who had ess to the same book would know of these famous illusions. Although he could add some details to it and make it a bit original, it was basically the same as changing the numbers in a math problem and couldn''t be relied upon.


    He eventually decided that the simplest way was just to chuck as many illusions as humanly possible around the area. Optical illusions, directional illusions, tactile illusions, anti-magic illusions you name it. At some point, the location of the Dimension Core became somewhat of a Schrodinger''s spot, where it almost existed and not existed at the same time.


    A mage would be able to see the mass of illusions, but whenever they tried to focus on it, they would find themselves seeing nothing. If they tried to grasp at the spot with their hands, they would find it missing its target by a wide margin and if they tried to run at it to hopefully tackle the Dimension Core out, they would find themselves running in apletely different direction.


    Even if they sted magic at the thing, they would witness their trusted spells steer clear of the damn mess like it didn''t want to deal with it.


    Obviously, after a small moment of confusion, they would notice that it was just a mass of simple illusions, and that each of them were pretty easy to deal with individually. It was just that there were so many of them that it looked impossible at a nce.


    But obviously, it wasn''t that simple. For a random mage, the process was akin to solving a jigsaw puzzle where you didn''t know the end picture that it was supposed to make. Naturally, the jigsaw pieces were all made of different materials as well, just for the heck of it.


    The process would get easier over time, but it was a long time before anyone got familiar with all the thing, at which point Evin would already be notified of a mage trying to disassemble his illusions.


    "Why did you even bother making it soplicated? Since it''s inside your shadow, the moment a mage tries to take this, you''ll learn of the fact, no?" Snyden asked bbergasted.


    "You''re would be correct But I was bored. And after adding, like, the 200th illusion, I just decided to go all in and pile on as much as humanly possible," Evin said smugly.


    "How much mana does it even cost to maintain this thing, anyway?"


    "Surprisingly little. After all, the World of Thoughts is one of the cheapest Worlds to use, unless of course, you''re a dragon or an Authority," Evin shrugged.


    "And how are you going to get the Core out in the first ce? I don''t really feel like going through hundreds of illusions every time you try to get the Core out is a pleasant experience."


    "Well, I''m the owner of this dimension for a reason," Evin said and channeled some Dark energy towards the ground.


    Some rumbling in the ground urred and the ck, spiral dicone slid out of the mass of illusions, connected to two Manaplexes stacked on top of each other.


    "Is that something special to shadow-based dimensions?" Snyden asked, surprised by Evin''s abilities: "Last time I checked, no other dimension owner could shift the ground in their dimension with Dark energy."


    "Come on, man, let me keep my secrets," Evin said and gestured Snyden towards the Core.


    Thetter pulled out what Evin recognized as a perfectly spherical piece of theium. He was very confident about this fact, as the kilogram of theium he bought felt exactly the same as this piece in front of him.


    Theium as a material was rtively simple,pared to the other World affiliated materials, like pelium, or vizium. After all, it was just a very bright piece of metal.


    It didn''t have differing states like nyxium, and it also didn''t have the mind-boggling weight-to-size ratio of a chrysalium. Forparison, the 1kg piece of chrysalium that Evin received was barely the size of a single grain of rice.


    At any rate, a set of very detailed engravings were chiseled all around the piece of theium, and weirdly, Evin could feel a sense of dominance and safety from it as well. Snyden carefully held the theium piece near the middle of the dicone and took on a silver hue. A wave of Thought energy jumped back and forth between Snyden and the theium orb, while Evin carefully observed the process. But he couldn''t really infer anything from the process, so he soon gave up and waited for it to finish.


    Snyden then let go of the piece and Evin could see how the bright white orb float near the Dimension Core without issue.


    "Alright, it''s all set up," Snyden said and gently pushed the orb around the Core.

 Chapter 241: Results of training

    Chapter 241: Results of training


    Evin then noticed that as the orb moved about, the sky above started shining brighter from one side and a bright fake-looking sun appeared on the horizon. It quickly traveled until it became almost adjacent to the real sun which was shining outside Evin''s shadow, at which point Snyden stopped pushing the orb.


    "Now close off the window to the outside World and see the second sun shine on your dimension," Snyden instructed with a smile.


    Evinplied and the outside world that was almost always visible from inside his shadow suddenly disappeared, the blue sky above turningpletely dark, except of course the artificial light source that shone in its stead.


    Evin really felt like the second sun was some kind ofmplight of a giant god, and that he and the others were just sitting on top of its desk, powerless and insignificant. Long story short, it wasn''t a very pleasant feeling, to say the least. He looked at Snyden, wondering if this was normal, but thetter had a disturbed frown on his face as well.


    Evin probably would''ve felt fine if it waspletely dark, but the eerie white light of the artificial second sun was much too disturbing for him to feelfortable.


    "I guess it all feels so wrong because your dimension is too deeply connected to the Dark World" Snydenmented.


    "Can you fix this somehow?" Evin asked.


    "Guess we can have a custom colored on made for you, but it will cost a about 500 gold more," Snyden said.


    "Take the money from the Cosmics," Evin shrugged and reconnected his shadow to the outside world.


    The familiar blue sky returned to the sky, and everyone seemed to sigh a breath of relief. Evin then made the vision blurry and distorted, so the people inside couldn''t see what was happening outside. If one looked up, they would see what was simr to a shattered sky filled with a bunch of blurry polygons.


    "Let''s see if the other artifacts are working properly," Snyden said and pulled out the rest of the things that Evin ordered.


    Thankfully, the artifact for boosting the dimensions'' soil growth and resources worked without problems, and the one for rain worked without issues as well. After they finished testing everything, Evin put the core back into the mess of illusions.


    Evin learned many tricks while he was ying around with his Dimension, with him being able to freely move the Core around and also his ability to add a filter to the sky. In reality, he probably didn''t need the artificial sun that badly, but he reckoned it was nice to have the option.


    "Alright, I''ll go out and reach out to my contact," Snyden said and shouted to his crew: "Keep on working, boys and girls!"


    The two went outside Evin''s shadow, and Snyden started fiddling with somemunication device.


    "Do you want to wait at my ce?" Evin offered.


    "Sure, but we might have toe back here, since he''ll need to send the item through a portal of some sorts. Unless, of course, you have something to do in your home," Snyden said.


    "I might need to in a bit," Evin exined, and the Snyden agreed to wait in the Tribe Grounds.


    Since the two of them could fly, they came at Ekhri Tribe in a few minutes and walked to Nasst''s mansion in another twenty. Snyden exined that he''d already made the order, but it might take a day or two for the Artificer to finish it. Evin then put Snyden inside his shadow again and went to Nasst''s room.


    "Have you finished that personal matter you were talking about?" Nasst asked.


    "Almost. But I should be free for the day." Evin shrugged.


    "That''s good enough. It should be enough time for you to get acquainted with Doctor Gizel and decide on the general n of things," Nasst said smilingly.


    "Alright,"


    "Wait in the Test room, I''ll bring her to you."


    As Evin waited with some excitement, he thought of the miraculously productive month he just went through. Perhaps it was the 10-day break, or perhaps he''d just suddenly turned god-mode, but he had gotten good enough to createbat portals on the same level as an average orange-star Cosmic, which were the quarter-core equivalents of the Felines.


    Although he still had a lot of work ahead of him, with energy and material portals, ording to Rith, it was a very impressive achievement nheless.


    Moreover, just like promised himself, Evin focused almost solely on his passive defenses made of Time Energy Beams and finally saw some light at the end of the tunnel. He''d learned how to bend the Beams after two weeks, and after another two, he''d learned how to keep it around his body at all times. The task could bepared to literally bending light through one''s willpower. A monumental achievement indeed.


    But, simrly to his situation with portals, he had a lot of work ahead of him. First of all, he had to make it target spells only, as Time energy had a nasty habit of making everything around it decay and rot. If he were to use them as is, he would be slowly but surely killing everyone around him. He also had to learn how to keep five of them around him at all times as well, so there was that.


    In any case, his gains during this month was great. Just like he guessed, it was best if he could simply focus on two or maybe three things at a time and forget about the rest. If he got stuck with one thing, he could tackle the other and vice versa.


    ''After I''m done with the portals and passive defenses, I''ll visit the Vulpine Mother and focus on my Dark Magic. While doing that I guess I''ll try to bepetent enough with Somaturgy,'' Evin thought excitedly.


    As Evin was happily thinking of his future, he heard the footsteps of two people walking to the test room.


    ''We meet atst,'' Evin wiped the smirk off his face and expectedly looked at the door.

 Chapter 242: Gizel

    Chapter 242: Gizel


    Nasst came in from behind the door, apanying a tall, tanned, middle-aged woman who was maybe slightly older than Lora''s age. After hearing her name, Evin expected to see an Easterner, but aside from her tanned skin, the woman looked like a Northerner through and through. She also had a bright beige horn on her head, which was oddly located right on top of her forehead. As far as Evin could tell, the horns usually tended to grow on the side of one''s head.


    One more thing that Evin couldn''t help but notice was the woman''s love for jewelry and essories. A variety of trinkets, mostly of gold and ck colors, decorated her neck and chest area, while her arms and fingers were decorated with more colorful rings and bracelets. Even her horns were had some seemingly custom-made rings decorating it as well.


    Her posture also suggested that she was someone who didn''t dislike attention, at least, if not outright reveled in it.


    Evin noticed that even as she walked, slowly and teasingly as she did, her whole weight would diligently shift between both her legs, no doubt catching the attention of many onlookers in the street.


    She then stopped and rested her weight on her left leg, as her hands casually rested on her waist like a model of some sorts. With her chin slightly facing upwards, her half-smiling gaze leisurely eyed the room she just entered before it finally fell on Evin.


    "This better be good, Nasst... Kortan''s been hell-bent on having me work all this fall, buzzing on and on about this magical ore with unparalleled destructive capabilities. I don''t wanna spend my whole winter stuck with another boring job," the woman said casually.


    "I''ve told you it involves World Sprites and golems, don''t you always talk about how you wished an owner of possible World Sprites would willfully be a test subject for you?" Nasstughed.


    "Guess what Kortan said to pull me out of my vacation? The same exact thing. Now did I see a group of cute little World Sprites waiting for me to work out their secrets? No. I saw an ursed collection of dirt-ridden rocks, with Lord Kal sitting nearby to browbeat me into working withoutints," Gizel narrated with a weary sigh.


    "Well, you''ll see my credibility in a few minutes. Anyway, Evin, meet the foremost expert in the field of Magical Engineering and an avid hobbyist of Somaturgy, Doctor Gizel. And here''s the World Sprite owner willing to let you y a bit with his friends," Nasst introduced the two.


    "Ah, we finally we meet. It''s took far too long for history to birth such an unselfish Dark mage like yourself," she smiled in a courteous way.


    "Nice to meet you as well, doctor Gizel," Evin guessed that most who were fortunate enough to own World Sprites weren''t so keen on letting others mess around with them.


    "Evin, right? Who knew someone would be interested in golems at this point in history? Or were you someone who pursued the subject in your previous life?"


    When Gizel mentioned golems, Evin found that the word weirdly didn''t suit her very much, with her mour and style.


    ''Now that I think about it, she really doesn''t look like a Somaturgy expert would look, huh,'' a random thought appeared in Evin''s head, as he wondered how to best answer the woman.


    "I was just a simple man of science Though the matters of mages always intrigued me greatly," Evin said vaguely.


    "Ehm, sure. Well, I''ll hope you''ll find yourself interested in the subject soon enough. Nasst, do you have any requirements or deadlines of some sorts?" Gizel asked smilingly.


    "Well, see what kind of golems you can make with Evin''s World Sprites. If you need any materials, you can give a list to me," Nasst said, before adding in the end: "We''ll also need you to swear on your Oath that you will keep matters regarding this project a secret."


    "Really? Aren''t they just World Sprites?"


    "Just do it. It''s not so hard to keep a small secret like this, right?"


    "But what am I going to say if Lord Kortan asks about this?" Gizel asked in a yful tone, her handtching onto the old man''s arms.


    "I''m sure he''ll understand if you simply exin the situation," Nasst sighed.


    "Alright, " Gizel said in a sulky voice and reluctantly swore on her Oath.


    "Well, now that you know what to do, I''ll be on my way."


    "Good luck on your work, Lord Boring. If you ever need help, don''t hesitate to ask me," Gizel said and smiled meaningfully.


    "Sure, good luck with your project," Nasst shrugged and walked out.


    ''I must say, this is quite painful to watch,'' Evin thought as he witnessed the exchange.


    Right as the old mage walked out, Gizel''s prideful posture loosened up a bit, as she pulled one of the seats in the room and sat on it straightly.


    "Wait a few minutes, I need to get into work mode for this," the woman said. She then closed her eyes and started making an awfully focused expression.


    A few minutester, she held her hand to her mouth and yawned with satisfaction. Her eyes opened shortly after and Gizel wiped the tears that came out. Evin observed the woman''s actions with some interest, but thetter didn''t really pay any mind to Evin''s gaze, happily caressing one of her rings with a refreshed expression.


    "Sorry, but how did you be a interested in Somaturgy?" Evin asked after observing the woman for a bit.


    "Because I was good at it, naturally," Gizel replied with a chuckle.


    "I suppose that''s fair. Alright. Do you wanna have a look at the World Sprites?" Evin asked.


    "Of course, Nasst''s been talking a lot about your World Sprites, probably since fall, actually," Gizel replied, and pulled out arge metal box from a Storage Ring.


    Evin thought that the woman would be difficult to converse with, due to the prideful manner she carried herself at first, but thankfully, she seemed very easy to speak to.


    ''She''s a bit confusing, but it shouldn''t really matter much,'' he thought and spread his shadow a bit wider. Slowly, Lucario''s figure emerged from the shadows, prompting Gizel to look at Evin with a puzzled stare.


    "This is one of the Dark World Sprites I have in my shadow," Evin exined and as if on cue, Lucario broadcasted his thoughts to the two of them.


    [An honor to meet doctor,] a slightly broken, yet smooth voice echoed in the two mage''s minds.


    "What the hell?" Gizel murmured in Northern, as a mix of fright and curiosity appeared in her eyes.


    "I have about 80 or so simrly smart World Sprites in my shadow, all of them very eager to have a golem to pilot for themselves," Evin said, taking this as a chance to exin some stuff to the Somaturgy expert. About how he first received them from a Beast Lord, but at the time they were rtively normal.


    He then pulled out Enri from his shadow, and talked about her specialness and rapid growth. Enri herself talked a bit about her experience to help Gizel understand things a bit better.


    As he was doing this, he made sure to cover the World Sprites inside his dimension in a veil of darkness, so Snyden''s crew inside didn''t see anything weird as he pulled some of them out of his shadow.


    Gizel wiped off the shock on her face and started writing down some notes as Enri and Evin spoke.


    Evin then brought out Runa and exined how one of the World Sprites inhabited a metal skinshifter, while also retaining its memories as a World Sprite.


    "That should not be possible," Gizel said after she heard Runa''s story.


    "What do you mean?"


    "World Sprites were never sessful intching onto a being that isn''t as smart as humans. For example, if a World Sprite were to attach itself to a dog or a cat, they would quickly die out and fizzle itself into raw energy. But it isn''t like they would be sessful in taking over a human or a Cosmic. After all, it''s impossible to have two souls coexisting together in a single body, especially if one soul is vastly weaker than the other," Gizel said.

 Chapter 243: A true researcher

    Chapter 243: A true researcher


    "Can you exin why World Sprites can''t attach themselves to dogs or cats?" Evin asked.


    "You can think of it like a sword and a scabbard. In this example, the people''s souls are the swords and their bodies, or should I say minds, are the scabbards. It''s widely believed that the smarter the species, the more sizeable their souls. So, if you tried to stick a huge sword into a small scabbard, at best you''ll be unsessful and at worst the scabbard will rip or break. Even in the opposite case where the sword is too small, although it won''t hurt the scabbard, it would easily slip out of it at the slightest of chances," Gizel exined.


    With this exnation, Evin could guess why Runa was apparently able to perform the impossible. After all, the skinshifter she upied was the divided other half of Karan, a very special Child of the Empress. But he became a bit curious about the Countries'' research on Soul Magic.


    "Since we''re already on the topic, can you exin how souls work?" Evin asked.


    "Hmm, usually I don''t talk about this to random strangers, but considering the state of your World Sprites, I''ll make a small exception," Gizel said meaningfully to which Evin nodded seriously.


    "Well, let''s start with the things that are practically facts at this point. Like we''ve just discussed, souls definitely have a size or weight to them, which dictates what kind of bodies they could inhibit and not. Through some unsavory tests conducted by our ancestors, we''ve been able to confirm that the souls of humans,yeq, cosmics, colossi, griffins, cobfolk, humanoid-skinshifters, tier-5 mana beasts, Beast Lords, myrmi queens, and any kind of Child of the Empress are all interchangeable, which means that you could possibly be a severely oversized humanoid, or one of our rather ugly eight-limbed neighbors. But don''t tell anyone I said that, okay?" Gizel winked yfully.


    "What about Ivari?"


    "Hmm, do you know what the word Ivari means in old Northern?" Gizel asked.


    "Not really."


    "The [Molded]. We''re just humans who had horns forged onto our heads, ones made of our own bones," Gizel shrugged.


    Hearing the woman''s exnation, Evin could see how it made sense. After all, he was considered a human, but in about six months, he was about to be one of the Ivari.


    "Then what about the Layeq? Aren''t they basically the same as us?"


    "About that. Well, it''s a bitplicated. If the Easterners'' invincibility is some sort of ability they acquire like the Horns, then they''re humans. But if they''re born with that ability from birth, they''re theyeq, I suppose. We can''t really be sure, since they''re very secretive about it, like we are with our horns."


    "Alright," Evin said and urged Gizel to continue.


    "Anyway, the above-mentioned examples could be considered the smartest species in the World. Below them are what''s called the lesser races: sufficiently grown up Chaos Creatures, non-humanoid skinshifters, tier-4 Mana Beasts, worker myrmis, and maybe some of the really smart animals though there''s not enough evidence for that," Gizel said, rubbing her chin.


    "I guess the rest fall into the final category, yeah?"


    "Yep. Tier 1-3 mana beasts, newborn Chaos Creatures, normal animals, some nts even - things of that nature."


    "Then what about World Sprites?" Evin asked.


    "Well, there''s the problem. Some put them in the middle pack, while others put them in the top bracket with the smarter species of the world. Though naturally, they don''t really mingle with anyone in either of those two categories Some even argue that they''re even above the list, since they''re beings that consist only of energy. And if you know some trivia about the Authorities, they''re considered to be beings that are just that. Energy."


    "Do you have any proof of that? About the Authorities consisting of only energy?" Evin asked.


    "Hmm Well, you''ll start to understand yourself when you be a lesser-imposer," Gizel said meaningfully.


    "Alright, I''ll keep an eye out for that," Evin said.


    "At any rate, there''s just not enough research on the World Sprites. And honestly, I was actually hoping to take a glimpse on their secrets through these guys," Gizel said as she looked intently at Enri, Runa and Lucario.


    "I suppose Anyway, what were we talking about?" Evin asked.


    "About how it was impossible for Runa to inhibit a metal skinshifter," Gizel reminded.


    "Ah, I might have an exnation for that. You know how metal-skinshifters break into two to reproduce, right?"


    "Yeah?"


    "Well, the original skinshifter that divided into two was a Child of the Empress," Evin revealed.


    "Huh? What the hell is wrong with you and your luck?" Gizel exined after thinking a bit.


    "He-he, I know, right?"


    "Stop acting cute. Where''s this reincarnated skinshifter of yours?"


    "I don''t know. He asked me to bring him to a certain spot and we''ve been separated ever since," Evin said a vague lie.


    "Bah, you and your useless goodwill. Keep such a treasure close to yourself, what is wrong with you?" Gizel said with a disappointed sigh.


    Evin gave her the look of judging, but thetter just brushed it off with a wave of her hands.


    "Don''t give me that look. I''m a researcher so I usually don''t worry about morals and the like. Tell you what. If you kill a child and somehow achieve immortality through the act, I''ll ask you to teach me how to do it, instead of judging your brutal methods," Gizel said and threw her hair to her side with her hand, causing the pile of essories on her body to jingle with a pleasant sound.


    "Well, at least I kept the World Sprites for you to study, so there''s that."


    "Right. In any case, let''s get on with this. Tell me how you got your World Sprites to look so human," Gizel said.


    Evin talked about his knowledge of Soul magic and the series of events that happened to the World Sprites afterwards. Though he was careful not to mention where he got knowledge of it all, like Twelve instructed him to.

 Chapter 244: A long due meeting

    Chapter 244: A long due meeting


    At first Gizel was a bit skeptical, but after some examples and demonstrations, she was desperately urging him to speak more of souls, like Evin was the incarnation of the Empress. Gizel seemed disinterested in how Evin knew of these things, instead only focused on writing down everything as urately as possible. Evin guessed that this was the professionalism of a true researcher showing itself.


    Evin also talked about the specialness of the human form of the World Sprites he possessed, speaking of how World Sprites are usually shaped like the Beast Lord they''re based on. Perhaps that was the reason they started to be more and more human.


    She asked many questions, ones that Evin was toozy to tackle himself, like how the souls that he obtained managed to pervade unto the World Sprites? How are the World Sprites themselves are turning out to be so simr to humans and so sessfully at that? After all, humans and the World Sprites were technicallypletely different species.


    All very valid points. As far as Evin could remember, evolution really didn''t work in such a simple and straightforward way. There was a reason why cat-girl hybrids weren''t running rampant in society. By that logic, practically all of the World Sprites in Evin''s possession should''ve turned out to be defective or not okay in other areas. A 100% sess like the one that happened with all 80 World Sprites that Evin had just wasn''t usible. And this didn''t even consider the incredible speed at which the merging happened.


    It could be exined by the mysteriousness of one''s soul, but Anna''s memories that Evin possessed didn''t really confirm such ims.


    But all this wasn''t really what Evin was focused on. After a few rounds of discussion, Evin steered the topic back to its origins.


    "Is it possible to make golems piloted by these World Sprites?"


    The excited Gizel also calmed down a bit, before pondering the question with some seriousness.


    "There''s a slight problem to it all."


    "Go on."


    "Hmm, it''s a bit difficult to exin as it could be considered a problem of technicality, but I''ll try to make it out to you clearly," Gizel said and continued after thinking a bit.


    "First of all, there are two methods I can think of after I''ve seen your World Sprites, though both of these methods are kinda hmm, how should I say this? They''re not really considered part of Somaturgy," she said calmly and brought out a small handbook from a Storage Ring. Flipping through the pages, she stopped on a page and showed it to Evin.


    On it, Evin could see a person sitting inside a metal/rock construct. Some text to its side exined that the mage would be piloting the construct from the inside.


    ''Is this a mech?'' he couldn''t help but think as he looked at the picture.


    "And this one," Gizel said and flipped to another page.


    On this one, Evin could see a picture which showed someone who seemed to be a mage and another pile of rock, which was supposedly the golem. The two''s heads were connected with dotted lines and the words "World of Thoughts and/or World of Earth" were written above.


    ''Isn''t this just the same as someone controlling rocks and metals through the World of Earth?''


    "As you can see, one is just a method to control a construct through mechanic controls, while the other is just a method where a mage controls a rock construct through a World. I''m offering you this method, because your World Sprites are practically the same as humans at this point."


    "I see," Evin hummed thoughtfully.


    "But this isn''t really Somaturgy in its purest form. The original vision of this art was to create a construct that can follow orders without being directly controlled and hopefully smart enough to make decisions independently. They would make use of something called a Golem Core, which would act like a control center of some sorts,"


    "Golem Core?"


    "Think of it like the golem''s brain or its soul, or whatever you wanna call it. I suppose another way to exin it would be to say that a golem is supposed to act simrly to a living being, except that its body is mostly artificial."


    "But someone or something needs to do the thinking for the construct, right? Be it World of Thought spells; human or animal brains; spirits; or World Sprites in this case."


    "Yes, thus, if I were to bepletely faithful to Somaturgy, I would have to have Lucario or Enri here turn into a state of pure energy and control a pile of metals through some magical means. Perhaps I''ll work on some method to make it so that they can move a bit further away from this shadowy area around you as well But that doesn''t seem possible now with their humanoid form," Gizel said.


    "I guess" Evin thought, but another question popped up in his mind, "Lucario, can you turn into something made of pure energy? Like you used to be before you turned human?"


    [Will try] a thought came in reply.


    Evin could then see how the World Sprite''s body was seemingly trying to shift states, most likely going from something solid to something based on energy. But sadly, Lucario''s efforts seemed to be in vain.


    "Enri?" Evin asked, wondering if the eldest sister was able to achieve the feat.


    [If the others can''t do it, then it''s even more impossible for me. I''m technically not even a World Sprite, after all,] Enri exined.


    Evin could see why. After all, ever since she came to reside in Evin''s body, Enri always had a physical body although it was just her head most of the time.


    "Well, I guess we just have to work on having you guys control a construct from a distance. Though that doesn''t really give you much freedom," Evin said with a sigh.


    [Maybe If Mother helps out I can go back] Lucario slowly articted.


    "What should I do?" Evin asked excitedly.


    [Not you Other mother]


    ''Other mother?''


    "Oh, the Vulpine Mother?" Evin murmured with some confusion.


    ''Why am I so used to being called mother now?''


    But aside from this little problem, he could definitely see how Lucario''s suggestion was usible. After all, the World Sprites originated from the Beast Lord, and a very aplished mage at that. If she couldn''t do it, then no one could.


    "Yeah, that sounds good. I was thinking that I should give her a visit sooner orter, anyway," Evin said.

 Chapter 245: The boredom of a Beast Lord

    Chapter 245: The boredom of a Beast Lord


    A brief period of silent nothingness passed and Kyune found herself weeping inside the cold darkness of her caverns. Her offspring, who had assumed the forms of human children, were freely running through the vast hills of the North, slowly but surely phasing out of existence.


    [I''m sorry mother]


    [For leaving you behind]


    Apologetic thoughts from her children entered Kyune''s mind.


    [Have a wonderful life]


    Another thought appeared in her mind, wishing her a good life.


    [Live on for us]


    [Let us be]


    Countless such thoughts littered Kyune''s mind, causing her to feel even deeper sorrow.


    Kyune thought of gathering them up and forcing them to live on evestingly inside her fake utopia... She could definitely do it, and she did it before countless times but not today. This day, she could only stand inside the darkness, weeping silently.


    What was the point of her existence? What was the point of her children''s existence? To live inside their perfect bubble through eternity until they got bored with it all one day and decided to take their own lives?


    If so, then why wasn''t Kyune running into the vast wilderness, embracing death like her own children were doing? Hasn''t she lived enough? Hasn''t she waited enough? Shouldn''t she be running along her children? What was she waiting for, anyway?


    [Mother]


    [Don''t die]


    [Please don''t die]


    [Someone wille]


    [One day they''lle]


    .


    .


    .


    Sweating and panicking, Kyune woke from her dream. It took her a minute to gather her thoughts, as she carefully petted the group of sleeping World Sprites with her tails.


    ''Such a powerful being, but can''t even cleanse its mind of nightmares. So utterly pointless...'' she then thought with a deep sigh.


    Half an hourter, Kyune sat in silence, once again reminding herself of the permanent nature of her boredom. She would usually be sleeping away the boredom, but one could only sleep so much before sleep became too much. And besides, most of the time, sleep came with some nasty friends called nightmares.


    Thus, she had to sit in her little cave, with only her thoughts and memories to apany her.


    ''It''s truly fascinating how I was able to live this long, if I think about it'' the recurring thoughts reappeared in her head, ''But the problem is, I truly don''t think it should be allowed for cognitive beings to live this long.''


    ''At least they should be able to move around and maybe destroy a country or two while they''re out,'' Kyune sighed once more.


    The peak of the world was a boring ce to be in, especially so if you weren''t at the top, like the Empress or the Authorities. Kyune was at the level where she just wasn''t strong enough to just say, "Fuck it" and suicidally try to take over the World.


    ording to most stories, such viins and dark lords wouldter find themselves dead at the hands of some random vige boy, but in Alvox, scary beings were sitting on top of Kyune''s head, reminding her to be a good little girl.


    ''Sigh and even if I''m so bored to act so daringly, I''ll never go far with the act, because it''s just so tragic and wasteful. I mean, what was the point of me gathering my strength for a millennium or so, if I were to just lose my life at the hand of some random Authority who was tasked to bring me down?''


    It was doubly more unfair for her, since she couldn''t even move away from the spot she chose to settle in. It sometimes felt uncannily simr to the stories of delusional children living their perfect lives inside their perfect little worlds. They were unmatched in their world, everyone epted them unconditionally, they controlled every little detail in their world but when reality came knocking, they would find their perfection shatter into a million pieces.


    Oh? You could cast a hundred different kinds of magic perfectly in your delusions, but when the time came to prove it to people that lived outside your world, you couldn''t do it? Perfection shattered.


    Oh? You have a cast of loving people who would practically do anything and everything for you? But does anyone outside your world feel the same way? No one? Well, that sucks, doesn''t it?


    Oh? You could fluently and captivatingly speak to literally everyone inside your world, but when you had to perform the same feat in a real life situation, you turned into a incoherent stuttering mess? Perfection shattered once more.


    But the problem was that for Kyune, the delusional state of things was her reality, but the catch was that she could not escape from it.


    She always lived in her perfect world, which was of course, her cave.


    The loving and caring people that lived inside this world were of course, her offspring - the World Sprites.


    And naturally, the impossible magical feats and the unparalleled social skills she could perform were all abilities that she acquired over the years and beyond.


    But she really couldn''t perform these miracles for the outsiders to see, since she physically couldn''t leave this perfect world of hers.


    ''Definitely, cognitive beings should be banned from living this long in such a manner'' Kyune sighed once more.


    The Empress'' arrangements allowed beings to reach almost unimaginable heights, but there was simply too little space to y around. Not to mention the Authorities and the Empress herself, the few dozen super-imposers and the various Beast Lords were more than enough to make hell out of Alvox ten times over.


    In a way, they were like a group of adults stuck inside a boxing ring along millions of children of varying ages, some of them even barely born. The adults had to always be considerate of the young ones they yed with, lest they identally destroy the boxing ring entirely.


    Obviously, some of the adults weren''t happy with this arrangement, namely the Beast Lords. After all, they didn''t give two shits about thews and constraints of humanoid society. Kyune was fairly sure the territorial limit that the Beast Lords had was some kind of shackle that the Empress was forced to put on them for the sake of the more normal denizens of the Empire.

 Chapter 246: A love of a mother

    Chapter 246: A love of a mother


    Sighing she scanned the cave, idly ncing at her offspring, which danced around her yfully and dumbly, providing Kyune a small bit of entertainment. A form of entertainment that she thought would get sick of in a few dozen years, but surprisingly, even after a thousand years, she would find herself smiling warmly as she idly watched her children.


    ''Well, I suppose cute and small things have that kind of effect. It was definitely not as entertaining when the little buggers started bing too smart for their own good,'' she thought, once again reminded of the dream she had a few moments ago, of the time when she directed the utmost of her capabilities to making the World Sprites smarter and more sapient.


    Long story short, the ensuing events didn''t exactly go in such a happy-go-lucky way that Kyune expected it to go. She expected to create a utopia for herself and her children, but in the end, she only got a century-long depression and a bunch of unsavory memories. She tried her best to forget about those memories, but such a thing was impossible, and she had long epted the fact. Though it didn''t mean that she didn''t feel sad about the fact.


    Sometimes, it was best to stay dumb and ignorant.


    ''Hmm,'' Kyune cleared the thoughts away from her mind, as a few of her tails skillfully picked up a few of her children and started ying around with them.


    ''I should go back to sleep in a few days or so, right?'' Kyune was thinking, before she felt ripple of Space energy pass through the cavern walls, a rtively powerful one at that.


    ''Is it someone who got tired of walking up the Cataract''s stairs and decided to take the easy way out? Must be a bunch of bigshots if they decided to use a portal to skip some stairs,'' she thought with amusement as she stretched her senses a bit wider to see what exactly happened.


    After a few seconds, she was able to see the culprit behind the incident. A young ck-haired boy of about 8, apanied by a female Cosmic and a beige-horned female Ivari, who definitely did not try to hide her love for jewelry.


    ''Ah, it''s him! But he seems much taller than when Ist saw him, though? Or did I manage to sleep through a couple years without knowing?'' Kyune thought confusedly. As far as she was aware, only a few months should have passed since she''dst parted with her long-awaited candidate.


    The meeting with Evin was one of the most monumental days in her life, but she was careful not to get too excited about the prospect. After all, the lives of others were not under her control. One day, the boy could be considered almost matching, but another day he could bepletely ipatible with her.


    If she got herself all hopeful and excited and then disappointed, she would have to live with the disappointment for who knows how long. Things like hope weren''t something she was allowed to cling onto. If she wanted to keep herself sane, at least.


    ''But something tells me that it''s okay for me to be hopeful'' she thought as she peeked into the boy''s shadow.


    But what she saw inside it was not something she expected to see. Inside a masterfully decorated town, built next to an abundant forest and a tranquilke with beautiful clear water, resided a group of World Sprites that looked exactly like human children, only with pitch-ck eyeballs. One of the taller boys seemed to notice her gaze as a smile appeared on his face and he waved back at her direction with a smile.


    A heartwarming sight but not so much for Kyune. The visions of her nightmares took over her mind once again and she could feel herself falling into rage.


    Almost subconsciously, her tails merged into the darkness of the cave and shot out to Evin''s direction in impossible speeds. They swiftly grasped the boy in its grasp, and pulled his sorry figure back in front of Kyune. A threatening growl came out of her mouth, as she violently assaulted Evin with her raw thoughts.


    [WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY CHILDREN?!]


    The boy''s shadow shuddered violently, every World Sprite inside feeling Kyune''s emotions.


    [Mother! No!]


    [Mother did nothing wrong!]


    [Don''t fight with each other!]


    The World Sprites'' innocent thoughts flooded into Kyune''s mind, forcing it to see the visions of her once excited children once more every one of them excited for the future, one of eternal happiness with their parent.


    The memory caused a mind-boggling amount of energy to leak from Kyune''s tails, turning the darkness of the cave into something akin to a sea of pitch-ck oil. The cave''s walls started rumbling loudly, unable to contain the destructive power of the Dark energy.


    At this rate, even the Cataract might''ve copsed, but thankfully, the ck sea then found its way into Evin''s shadow and started to wreak havoc there, turning it into a domain of pure, raw darkness.


    Evin, who still looked shocked by the sudden events, stared back at Kyune with an expression of fear and confusion. Then, a look of resolve seemed to appear in his eyes, as suddenly, Kyune felt herself choking on nothing.


    No matter how powerful a being was, sometimes, they could still be taken by an unpleasant surprise.


    The saying was especially fitting for Kyune''s situation, as thest time she fought with something was over five hundred years ago. The thought that someone who didn''t even possess a World Domain would actually dare fight back against her was simply inconceivable. But, due to this little surprise, Kyune loosened her grip on Evin''s body, allowing the boy to fall to the darkness below.


    Then Evin started to try and fumble a portal into existence, one supposedly meant to deliver him to safety.


    ''Aughable attempt.''


    Finding small wins here and there through some dumb luck was fine and all, but such things had limits. No one at Kyune''s level wasx enough to let themselves be bested by their lessers more than once. Kyune let a smidgeon of her Domain envelop the cave, swiftly shattering Evin''s hopes of escape.


    A couple seconds passed in silence as Evin looked back at the pitch-ck Vulpine with a defeated expression, one that turned into eptance soon after.


    [Look at my mind,] a thought appeared in her mind. The thought exuded such calmness, Kyune found it quite shocking. After all, this was the same boy who was trying to choke her a few seconds ago and failing to create a portal to his safety.


    Weirdly, this random inconsistency cleared up Kyune''s mind as she calmly started to think of the situation. Like the voice said, a little look inside Evin''s mind would clear up all misunderstandings and confusions.


    Curiously, and a bit fearfully, she essed Evin''s memories, causing the boy to assume a weird pose as if he was stuck in time.

 Chapter 247: Compatibility

    Chapter 247: Compatibility


    A brief momentter Kyune was looking through Evin''s memories like she was seeing a series of still images shing past her eyes. She couldn''t hear what Evin was saying in these moments, though she could guess at what he was feeling through how the memories looked.


    She saw his meeting with Lord Kena, his fight with the lesser-imposer, hister meeting with the Authorities, his talk with Authority Hin about something and the events that transpired in the Ekhri Tribe.


    But the thing that she wanted to learn the most, the most important part about how he got a group of intelligent World Sprites was not exined. Kyune tried very hard to learn about these events, but weirdly, a certain part of Evin''s memories seemed to bepletely blocked off from outside ess, namely the one that came right after his meeting with Authority Twelve Jokes and before he randomly appeared in a cocoon of Time energy. There was a literal wall regarding this area in Evin''s mind, one that even Kyune, one of the most powerful experts in the world on memory, could not bypass.


    But since Evin had just met the Authority of Time before this wall started appearing, Kyune could guess that thetter had done something to the boy, so they could keep some kind of secret under the rugs. But whatever it was, Kyune could see that it was extremely beneficial to the boy. And not just the boy, but to her as well, as it solved the biggest with herpatibility with Evin.


    She had given him her own scent alongside the blood''s will, so that the World Sprites would refer to him as [Mother] when they decided to call him for some reason or another. Kyune also instructed the blood''s will to call him [Mother] as well, all for the purpose of having Evin feel more feminine. She''d also given him a hint about the topic as well, telling him to think simply about the topic ofpatibility, though Evin seemed to have forgotten about it soon after and hadn''t bothered to worry about it too much.


    Kyune even started to think in a more manly way herself, so that the chances of them meeting in the middle became higher.


    ''I''d like to think that my arrangements had done wonders to make him feel that way, but it''s obvious that something happened during thispse in his memories that caused him to act in a much more feminine waypared to before''


    It wasn''t an exaggeration to say that a Beast Lord required their candidate to be almost identical with themselves, so that the two could have a small chance at merging together.


    This was also the reason why Kyune was so shocked and excited about Evin''s existence. The two''s lives could easily be called simr to the point of confusion.


    Both of them had a cynical and humorous attitude when dealing with most matters and both of them had rather aloof and introverted personalities.


    They both lived through many years of solitude, and they both experienced certain tragedies regarding loss. For Kyune, it was the suicide of her children and for Evin; it was the deaths of many people he stalked while he was a spirit.


    These two incidents might seem a bit different on the surface, but this lead the two to have a very simr approach to things. For example, in the case of family, they both didn''t mind showing love and affection to their families, but something in their bones was violently opposed to deeply attaching themselves to these people, and in Kyune''s case, the World Sprites.


    Aside from the focal points, there were many small simrities that popped up here and there: their affinity for the same Worlds of Magic, their heartless attitude to the lives of their enemies, their easiness to ept certain losses or setbacks, their random and spontaneous desire for vanity and attention all these things culminated to form a once in a lifetime chance for Kyune.


    ''I once cursed the Empress for putting such a territorial handicap on Beast Lords, but thankfully, she was kind enough to bring a suitable candidate from Earth and set it up in such a way that he was to meet me one day or another,'' Kyune allowed herself the asional narcissism.


    At any rate, after Evin''s mystery incident with Authority Twelve Jokes, the World Sprites started to develop intelligence. From Evin''s thoughts, Kyune didn''t quite understand everything perfectly, but she guessed that they''ve been infected by foreign souls, which cause them to develop with much more variation than otherwise considered possible. At least that was what she derived from the visual memories she saw from Evin''s head.


    ''I suppose I can forgive him if it''s just this,'' Kyune thought with a sigh, ''After all, all this could be considered an ident.''


    Shaking her head, she continued to delve through the boy''s memories. Even though she didn''t need to, she was still curious to the things that happened to him.


    The next incident was the one with the Serpent Beast Lord. The fact that the red-haired boy was chosen as another candidate shook her a bit, but she knew that her kind wasn''t so rare as people made it out to be. By her estimations, each country had at least five to ten Beast Lords in their territories. The boy stumbling upon a few of them wasn''t something so weird.


    During this incident though, the foreign souls inside the World Sprites started to act up, so Evin had to cull them out of the World Sprites'' bodies. At this point, Kyune was sure that Evin stumbled upon some sort of magic that involved souls, most likely something before the Empire. As for Evin culling the souls of these intruders, truthfully, Kyune wasn''t sure if this was the right call or not. After all, she wasn''t an expert on the subject of souls.


    The way Kyune used to make the World Sprites smarter was through someplicated and advanced use of the World of Thoughts. If she had to borrow a terminology from Evin''s memories, her children could be called very smart Artificial Intelligence.


    At any rate, a month passed once more and in the end, Evin met the Somaturgy expert and decided to give Kyune a visit, it seemed. Thankfully Evin decided to do so after the Development Crew was finished with the town, or it would''ve been a bit hard to keep things secret if such random bystanders caught sight of Kyune.


    ''Especially so after I let myself fall into rage and had his new dimension bathe in my energy'' Kyune thought with a sigh.


    Slowly and carefully, she dislodged her mind from the boy and saw thetter fall to the ground with a thud.


    ''Probably should''ve supported his fall,'' Kyune thought and molded the ground to be a bit softer on his body.


    She then started weaving together the World Sprite that she used to converse with others. Sadly, her physique didn''t allow for her to speak proper human words, and directly transmitting her thoughts would be too painful for Evin to bear.


    "I''m sorry for the sudden outburst just now," Kyune said through the World Sprite, as Evin regained his consciousness back.

 Chapter 248: Reject humanity, return to energy

    Chapter 248: Reject humanity, return to energy


    The boy groaned in pain, as he rubbed his head his hands.


    "It''s good to see you again, Vulpine Mother," Evin greeted, surprisingly calm about the whole situation, "I don''t remember my head hurting this badly after thest time you delved through my memories though the feeling of endless darkness felt the same as before."


    "I might''ve been a bit indelicate this time. I apologize for that as well," Kyune replied and had the World Sprite offer a small bow.


    Evin only shrugged and took on a pink hue to try and fix his head. He acted as if he was seemingly uninterested in why the Beast Lordshed out so suddenly, which pleased Kyune greatly.


    ''I wonder how I would''ve reacted if the same thing happened to me?'' Kyune couldn''t help but think.


    Was she going to silently ept getting thrashed like this as the natural course of action, or was she going toin and demand an exnation without fear or worry.


    ''I want to say that I''ll fearlessly stand up against a stronger enemy, but something tells me that I''d probably act simrly if I was in Evin''s shoes'' Kyune concluded.


    Everyone liked to think better of themselves, but sadly, people''s words and actions differed much often than one liked to think.


    ''But it would still be nice if Evin was a bit braver,'' Kyune sighed.


    As Kyune was thinking of such random thoughts, the buzzing of her now smarter children started to fill her mind.


    [Mother, what was that about?] an admonishing voice sounded in her head.


    [Mother, Evin didn''t do anything wrong. Please don''t be angry at him,] a calmer voice followed afterwards.


    Kyune could sense that this was the Blood''s will that she gave to Evin, who was now named Enri, and the other one was the World Sprite that somehow inhibited a skinshifter, Runa.


    [Mother No]


    [Get along nicely]


    [Talk it out]


    Random thoughts from the other World Sprites came in as well, most of them promoting proper conversation and peace in general. Some might say that these thoughts were not befitting of beings that were originally Beasts, but foxes usually had a very cooperative social systems, not to mention that Kyune was originally a human.


    Evin was also interacting with the World Sprites, as if they were human children, teaching them human morals and values, so it was natural that they would act in a more civilized manner.


    Sighing, Kyune gathered her thoughts and sent a wave of remorsefulness towards the World Sprites. A bitzy, but the little critters should be satisfied with that.


    "So I''m guessing I shouldn''t try to have golems made for the World Sprites?" Evin asked after a bit.


    "No, I don''t mind you doing that. I will even help you out as much as I''m able to," Kyune said calmly.


    The boy seemed a bit confused, but Kyune didn''t wish to exin herself.


    "I''m sorry, but even I don''t wish to take this so silently. It would be great if you could give me an exnation of some sorts, at least," Evin said.


    ''Oh, what caused him to act so bravely now? Was it my apology?'' Kyune''s interest was sparked once more.


    "It''s a rather personal thing for me, sorry. If you first came to me and asked first before turning the World Sprites smart, I would probably refuse... but since the World Sprites are already like this, I can only help to the best of my abilities Hmm, bring in the Somaturgy expert you brought with you," Kyune said and gestured Evin out of her den.


    As the boy walked towards the cave''s exit, Kyune thought of the situation of the World Sprites.


    ''My method was to give them intelligence through the World of Thoughts, which was sadly not enough to give the World Sprites independency from me. His method involves something else, but the problem is, no one really knows much about the method he used. Even Evin himself seems like he doesn''t know too deeply about the topic.''


    But there was the chance that it would allow the World Sprites to be freed from the shackles of being bound to a candidate individual or a Beast Lord.


    A few minutester, Evin came back with Rith and Gizel.


    "It''s good to see you once more, Vulpine Mother."


    "It''s an honor to meet a Beast Lord," the two greeted respectfully.


    "Likewise," Kyune replied through the World Sprite, "I understand you wish to help Evin''s World Sprites pilot golems in a more orthodox manner?"


    Gizel thought about it and summarized her thoughts.


    "Exactly as you say. Currently, they''re too human to be used as Golem Cores. It would be very helpful if you could turn them into beings of energy like most World Sprites. They also seem to be very excited about the prospect," the Ivari said neutrally.


    "Alright. The issue of turning them into beings of energy is quite simple, actually. But I do have a request from you," Kyune said.


    "Please tell."


    "I want you to think of a method to make the World Sprites independent of a Beast Lord, or Evin. Naturally, I''ll do my best to cooperate with this. For the time being, take this scroll and read the materials inside it," Kyune said and brought out a scroll infused with a pretty strong Thought Imprint on it.


    Naturally, she had documented most of her findings in scrolls and on paper, just in case she wanted to share them with others one day.


    The scroll that she gave to Gizel contained the spell she used to create the smarter World Sprites back in the day. She remembered heavily using runes and inscriptions to achieve such a feat, so the contents of the scroll were pretty in depth.


    Gizel essed the scroll after a small thanks and it soon became apparent that she was enthralled with the contents.


    "Bring out your World Sprites out here," Kyune told to Evin next.


    A minuteter, the row of children were standing in front of Kyune, all with a look of awe and curiosity on their faces.


    Kyune nodded slightly and gently let the Dark energy inside her to envelope the children. Even without them trying to, the children started to hungrily absorb the Darkness surrounding them. Evin had also joined in on the feast, casually directing the Dark energy to his mana-core in hopes of making it stronger. Although most of it was going to waste, since the energy Kyune was emitting was far too different from a World Core, Evin seemed happy with the gains, regardless.


    "To turn you all into beings of energy is a very simple feat. You all are showing signs of developing flesh and organs, but since your original state was one of information and energy, it''s pretty easy to revert back. You just need to overcharge yourself with energy, basically, and your flesh would break down and can only survive by reverting back to bing beings of energy. Sounds a bit dangerous, but it really isn''t that," Kyune spoke in a distant and impartial manner, trying to avoid getting overly attached to these World Sprites in front of her.


    ''Although I act like this, I''m sure to get hopelessly attached to the World Sprites regardless...'' Kyune thought with a sigh, as she observed the children making an ecstatic face.


    ...

 Chapter 249: Runes

    Chapter 249: Runes


    Evin stood next to a fancily dressed young man, as thetter dutifully recorded the details of a team of researchers.


    After everything was settled with the Vulpine Mother, Gizel started to be upied with her research inside Evin''s shadow. Evin had asked for aboratory to be built inside his town, which became fully operational with a few requests from Gizel here and there.


    As one of the leading researchers of the North, the woman enjoyed a hefty amount of authority and resources, so one little extraboratory wasn''t really a big deal. After she got the okay from the Vulpine Mother, she decided to bring in her team of assistants, who called themselves a team of elite Magical Engineers, and fully dedicated her time on this project.


    After Evin''s World Sprites became able to turn into energy, the research team focused on trying to create a Golem Core that utilized the World Sprites as a source of energy and also amand unit.


    The Vulpine Mother also helped a lot in this process, offering ess to her vast knowledge regarding the subject of magic. She possessed answers and solutions to a lot of problems the research team faced, which tremendously helped the team''s overall progress.


    Sadly, the Vulpine did not allow Evin to ess any of the information she possessed, but she exined that it had a very important reason, so Evin could only sit silently on the sidelines, only allowed to see the most surface level knowledge of the process.


    It wasn''t that big of a deal anyway, since for Evin and his World Sprites, he just had to understand the general idea of things, so that they were able to pilot the golems without much issue. They weren''t really expected to be Somaturgy experts, as the task was akin to getting a whole new university degree. Even with increased intelligence of a mage, it wasn''t possible to understand the nitty-gritty details of it all. It was the same concept of soldiers learning to use and take care of their weapons, but not quite invent or build them from scratch.


    But he was finally able to learn about runes and magical engineering in a much more extensive way. Nasst had promised to give him some books regarding the topic at ater date, but wasn''t quite able to follow up on the promise.


    Thankfully, Gizel had brought a trainee researcher who also didn''t really have anything important to do, except for observing and recording the details of the research. A gaudily dressed young man named Tusa, who seemed to be no older than twenty. The young man was very knowledgeable about the subject of magic and science, making it apparent that he had enjoyed a very good education from a young age. Gizel had instructed him to exin things to Evin when he wasn''t busy with recording.


    After Tusa finished recording everything he needed to, he started to exin some stuff to Evin.


    "The most widespread use of runes is to attach a trait or a feature to a spell without wasting extra imagination on it," Tusa said casually, "One could say that it was a method of recing the need for proper imagination and mental artiction in a sense. A sad thing indeed, but that is how most mages function."


    Evin was listening to the man as he drank a hot cup of coffee that he made himself. The young man was something of an elitist of logic, who looked down on any mage who opted to plow through problems with their willpower.


    "Since you''re a logical mage, you probably don''t face the problems that our less fortunate brethren meet on a daily basis. After all, if you find yourself struggling with a spell, you would usually opt to try out a more specific method of imagination, or a different world altogether. But it isn''t so easy for most of the mage caste, unfortunately."


    Evin didn''t mind the snark remarks of Tusa. He himself was someone who preferred and advocated logic over willpower and emotion. Though he wasn''t sure if he was going to be so passionate about it all.


    "As you probably know, willpower-based mages tend to only focus on one World or maybe two, but never five or six, like we do. As long as they aren''t able to solve everything with one World like the peak pursuers of the True Path, most of the time, they''ll find themselves stuck on one problem or another for very long times."


    "This is where runese into y. For example, let''s suppose that a mage was trying to destroy a wall or something. But the problem is, he can only use the World of Fire and he isn''t a very good one as well. Coupled with the fact that walls usually had an advantage over fire, the mage had fallen in quite a pickle. A peak-quarter core at the age of 15 who doggedly chased a single world, without much to show for it as well - the very personification of mediocrity," Tusa said with a look of schadenfreude.


    ''Well it''s not like everyone''s able to receive the proper education needed to be a logical mage and it''s not like everyone has ess to Core Shards or other methods to increase one''s core size,'' Evin thought in his head, but he decided not to argue with the man over the subject. He only nodded in a half-acknowledging way and said nothing else.


    "But, thankfully, the mage possesses an extensive amount of knowledge on runes. With that, he gets ess to tons of other methods to deal with the problem at hand. He could form a World of Fire spell with a [Melt] rune drawn on some part of it, which would make it so that his mes would melt the walls down. Or, he could form his spell with a [Self-solidify] rune drawn on it, which would turn his pile of fires into something much heavier and bulkier."


    "How much extra mana would be needed for that?" Evin asked. It would be great if everything was that easy, but he was sure that there was a catch to it all and he was fairly sure that it was rted to mana consumption.


    "It depends on the rune. [Melt] would probably make the spell cost twice as much as the original, while [Self-solidify] would make the spell cost almost thrice as much. Naturally, there are countless lesser runes which help a spell in small but significant ways," Tusa exined, "In fact, you can try out a fairly easy one right now. Try to imagine a floating orb of fire in the air."


    Evinplied with Tusa''s request and a ming sphere the size of his head floated in the air.


    "Now imagine a plus sign on it, it would be even better if you created the bundle of fire to look like a plus sign."


    It was a bit weird, but Evin managed to reshape the orb to show a big noticeable plus sign on it, almost the size of the orb itself. He then noticed how a sizable chunk of his mana was drained, as the orb''s size increased almost four times its size.


    "Huh" Evin thought, weirded out by how automatically the process happened. He wasn''t even thinking about increasing the thing''s size but there it was, burning in the air in all its ming glory.


    "Weird, isn''t it?" Tusa said with augh, "When you get too used to casting with logic, using runes feel a bit awkward at first. Theck of control and the general feeling of what the hell just happened."


    "Definitely" Evin said, dispelling the me he''s just created.


    He then created another orb of fire and increased its size through facts and logic  which was just to make it consume oxygen faster. When hepared the mana consumption of both methods, he found that using runes cost him roughly 40% more mana. And it wasn''t like it was any faster, since Evin''s ability to imagine things were quite advanced at this point. One more thing that was problematic was that the logically inted orb was much hotterpared to the one achieved by the rune.


    ''Is this what Nasst meant when he said that mages have a lot of ways to use up their mana?'' Evin thought.

 Chapter 250: Magical Engineering

    Chapter 250: Magical Engineering


    "As you can see, runes can be pretty useful if you have mana to waste. And before you ask, I can''t teach you about runes other than the 20 basic ones that practically all mages learn about. The kids at Ekhri Tribe learn about those 20 and 20 more that the North decides to teach them as a bonus from studying in a Tribe," Tusa spoke with a smile, "After that, you need to find an institute or master whose willing enough to share their secrets or work your ass off for the country to take a peek at the more advanced runes. Though I''d rmend you to get in a team like this one to learn, since there are thousands of known runes in existence and new ones are still being discovered nowadays."


    "How much does it cost to see the runes of the country?" Evin asked.


    "Well, mostly depends on the runes, but I suppose a month of service would get you about 50 useless runes, 10 decent runes, and maybe one good rune. But you really don''t need to worry much about it. As you''ve just tried out yourself, if you can recreate the effects of a rune by yourself, it''s better to just do it that way. Most of the time, runes only offer a shortcut to a means," Tusa shrugged.


    "Where do these things originate from anyway?" Evin asked, before quickly realizing what the answer was almost immediately.


    "Tons of theories and spections regarding that, but sadly, or should I say inevitably, the most reliable one is that the Empress was behind its creation. But nheless, the spections are quite fascinating to read about. My favorite one is one proposed by a Northern lesser-imposer that goes by the name, Ke."


    "He proposes that all shapes and figures possess a certain amount of mystery and inherent meaning to them. And, by applying mana or World energies to them, we are able to bring out those meanings and secrets. He then lists many different folklore and myths which include certain symbols in them and describe the rted stories. Then, he brings out a rune which looks simr to the symbols in these stories and describes its use. Weirdly, the effects of these runes match the effects the myths describe," Tusa exined with fascination.


    "And the rune that you just used is the same as well. We all know that a plus sign indicates the increase of something. And lo-and-behold, the moment you draw it on a spell, its size increases! As you can probably guess, if you draw a minus sign on your spells, they''ll be smaller as well!"


    ''Sounds like the Empress was behind this. After all, there were no signs of Runes and engravings in Anna''s memories,'' Evin concluded after listening to the story.


    As for why she decided to make plus signs and minus signs create the same effect as they''re implied to, well, Evin was pretty sure it was just because it was easier to understand.


    "This is one of the reasons why mages are discovering new runes to this day, they spend their days digging through old archeological findings, reading through piles and piles of old folklore and myths, until eventually, they stumble upon a new rune," Tusa concluded.


    "Although it all sounds interesting to read through, I''ll probably stick to thinking that the Empress was probably behind it all," Evin smiled, to which Tusaughed loudly.


    "Anyhow, I''ll find you a small guidebook on those 40 runes. You can study them at your own leisure, or you can also choose to not study them, no hair off my back. Though, if you want to be a sessful Magical Engineer, you probably have to dabble in the things one way or another," Tusa smiled.


    Evin heard the statement and realized what Tusa was hinting at.


    "You mean to say that the engravings on magical artifacts are the same as runes? Then what about Inscriptions?"


    Evin remembered reading about Engravings and Inscriptions when he first started on his journey to the North. The book had exined that Engravings were symbols that one drew on objects to give it a magical aspect, while Inscriptions were symbols that one drew on their bodies.


    Evin was slightly interested in the former, but he quickly lost interest in thetter. After all, all that Inscriptions offered was a nigh-instant method of casting a spell. For Evin who possessed his battle-mode and his gestures, inscriptions were no more than glorified tattoos.


    "Exactly so. Granted, they require some rather special ink and carving techniques, but the shapes are practically identical."


    "Well, I guess that makes things a bit easier," Evinmented.


    "It definitely does. I personally wouldn''t want to learn three different versions of what is essentially the same thing. But why do you think only a few people ever be masters of Magical Engineering?"


    "I suppose some runes be a bit too hard to consistently draw? After all, quality handwriting could be considered a pretty neat skill to unt about," Evin said.


    "There''s that too, but once could easily fix that problem with some practice and dedication. After all, I definitely didn''t have the prettiest of carving skills," Tusaughed, "No, the trickiest part about Magical Engineering and Runes in general is the fact that you canbine them. Theoretically, you can endlesslybine them as well thousands of them at the same time! But naturally, that isn''t so usible in practice. After all, lots of runes have the exact opposite counterpart. If you draw an [Increase] rune alongside a [Decrease] rune, then all you get is a waste of mana."


    "I can see why your job can be very well respected by others, but not really envied," Evin said, thinking of the countlessbinations that were possible with thousands of known runes in the world.


    "Hah, you couldn''t have said it better. Half of a Magical engineer''s spare time is spent trying to mix in different runes and seeing if it works or not. It would be fine if one was just trying out new spells, but us Magical Engineers have to consider what magical material it should be engraved on, what size should the engravings be, coz the size of the damn drawing also matters a lot, in which order the runes should be engraved, and all sorts of other tedious things to worry about. But you know what, that''s the painful joy of our job." Tusa said with a sigh.


    Evin could really feel the weight of Tusa''s speech. This was one of the reasons why he loved to listen to people passionate about their craft. Even though Evin waspletely disinterested in the subject of Magical Engineering, after Tusa''s speech he was properly invested in the subject. At least for today, that is.


    "And I''ll tell you what. If I could ever only shake one man''s hand in this entire World, it''ll be Ke''s hand. I''ll tell you why. That absolute genius of a man managed to create theoreticalws which exin how runes interact with each other. No longer we have to fumble aimlessly in the dark, hoping to chance upon abination through luck. No longer we need to try out a runebination on countless priceless materials, praying to the Empress for her blessings and magic"


    "We only need to write down the runebination on a piece of paper and follow thews that Ke painstakingly deduced for us. If you are correct in your deriving, bam! You will receive a simple answer of whether or not your runebination will be sessful," Tusa said proudly.

 Chapter 251: Reminiscence

    Chapter 251: Reminiscence


    "How does Ke call it?" Evin asked curiously.


    "The Theoretical Experimentation of Runes, or TEOR for short. The study of runes is finally bing something more than just a subbranch of Magical Engineering."


    Tusa exined Ke''s new form of study for a bit and Evin couldn''t help butpare it to a certain subject back on Earth - Chemistry.


    Chemistry was essentially the study of various elements andpoundsposed of atoms and molecules: theirposition, structure, properties, behavior and the changes they undergo during a reaction with other elements.


    The written form of Rune mixing that Ke developed, on the other hand, studied theposition, structure, andbination of runes and engravings.


    Obviously, modern chemistry was much too convoluted and broad of a subject to bepared to the budding new idea that was TEOR. But Evin was pretty sure this would explode into a giant simr to Scroll-making and Alchemy at some point.


    After all, if this new study worked in any way simr to how Chemistry worked, then they should be able to derive countless more possible runes in no time. After all, through some maths and some spections they should be able to deduce the existence of not yet identified runes, like how Mendelev deduced the existence of previously unknown elements.


    ''I wonder if this Ke epts sponsors'' Evin couldn''t help but think, after realizing the potential of everything.


    "Tusa, is it possible for you to reach out to Ke somehow?" he asked after thinking a bit.


    The gaudy young manughed loudly at the question.


    "I sure wish I did. No offence to the Boss Gizel''s team, but if I could meet Ke, I''d probably be studying under him, rather than here. But sadly, the man is as mysterious as he is genius. He publishes most of his findings through Paradra Tribe and thetter seems to be very intent on keeping the man''s location a secret. Even though I belong to the same Tribe, the Paradra is just so big that it''s impossible for a simple intern like me to find whoever I want."


    ''If he''s under Paradra''s control, then I guess it''s impossible for me to snatch him up. A bit unfortunate, but I suppose it''s natural that there are other people who can see the man''s potential. And from what I heard, he''s a lesser-imposer as well, so it''s debatable whether or not he needs the help.''


    Soon, Tusa went back to his job of recording and Evin was left alone. Since he didn''t have anything to do, he decided to practice some of his other magic.


    After an hour or so, the Vulpine Mother came to him after spending some time with the research team. She seemed content to simply watch as Evin practiced, her disorienting collection of tailszily swaying about in the air.


    Evin was a bit surprised by the Vulpine''s sudden oush the previous day, but something about the emotions she showed through the telepathic shout felt terribly close to home, that he just couldn''t feel truly threatened by it.


    During that moment, he could also hear a lot of the fox''s stray thoughts going off in his mind: her unrestrained confusion, her worried thoughts as a mother, her love and care for her children. He could also hear a stray warning that went: ''Don''t overdo it! Who knows how easy he''ll die?''.


    ''Thatst one was just a bit hurtful, but it also told me how the Vulpine Mother was also a real person like myself.''


    It was actually a bit surprising when Evin thought about how long it took for him to realize this fact. After all, he''d talked with the Authorities before and more than half of them were found to be just a bunch of useless members of society. Sure they were disgustingly overpowered, but with the Empress towering over them, it was hard to imagine that they would go out of line.


    ''I will probably die for that thought, but I''ll do anything to reveal the dark truth to everyone!'' Evin thought jokingly, before regathering his thoughts.


    ''Weird how my instincts decided to choke the ck fox and run away, even though the portal I made was probably more likely to kill me, rather than the Vulpine Mother'' Evin remembered another detail of the incident.


    He was thinking of his ability to make faster decisions on the fly, so he''d been nning to make a set guideline on what to do on certain situations, and the incident showed Evin that he probably had to take his instinct into ount somehow.


    ''So much work to do'' sighing, Evin steered his mind to focus on the task at hand, a pair of functioning material portals.


    Some time passed in silence, before the Vulpine Mother''s World Sprites started to gather around the two. Evin''s World Sprites were too busy being experimented on.


    Surprisingly, the number of World Sprites in the Vulpine Mother''s possessions seemed to have stayed the same since he''d left. There were originally about 300 of them and 98 of them had left with Evin. 15 of them merged to be Ayn, Vyn and Lyn, while one of them turned into metal skinshifter and became Runa, leading the total number in Evin''s possession to be 84.


    But from a nce, Evin could only see 200 or so World Sprites around the two of them, and as another surprise, some of them, about 50 of them, started to get close to Evin, more so than the Vulpine Mother.


    If the ck fox cared about this at all, she definitely did not show it on the outside. She actually seemed rather pleased by the fact, as she gently pushed the hesitant ones to Evin''s side with a motherly smile.


    "I suppose it is time for us to talk about ourselves," a voice suddenly appeared behind Evin, startling him greatly. He looked back in dyed panic to see the creepy World Sprite with the mouth floating in the air with a satisfied grin.


    At some point, the Vulpine Mother must have created the thing behind him to give him a little scare.


    Getting his bearings straight, Evin replied in a calm manner: "What do you mean, about ourselves?"


    "You are my candidate, if you don''t quite remember," the World Sprite''s smile spread even wider as it spoke.


    "Oh, have I be too ipatible?" Evin asked dumbly.


    "Ah, not at all. In fact, you''re sopatible, I''m getting the urge to shove my body into you right this moment. Who cares if it works or not, right?" the Vulpine Mother said teasingly.


    "Of course. After all, it''s the natural thing for one to ruin something in a fit of emotions after waiting a whole entire millennium for it," Evin could obviously tell the fox was joking, so he didn''t mind ying along.


    "That it is" the Vulpine herself chuckled lightly, as she walked up to Evin and gently wrapped her tails around him.


    A soothing fluff of Dark energy emanated from the tails and afortable feeling of warmth filled Evin''s heart. He was then reminded of his undeath back on Earth, but somehow, his mind ignored all the despairing emotions he usually felt when he remembered his time as a spirit. Instead, he saw all the positive and heartwarming events that stood out to him.


    After all, even if he couldn''t directly participate in the events that urred around him, it wasn''t like he couldn''t feel d and empathetic for the people that it urred to.

 Chapter 252: An unbalanced game.

    Chapter 252: An unbnced game.


    Flooded in the memories of the past, Evin was reminded of his time with Kena, where he sat in silence as he tried his best to sort his memories into two parts: informative and personal. Butpared to that time, Evin didn''t really have much to do at the moment. Thus, he could truly savor the emotions he felt during these moments in his past.


    Something told Evin that he would probably start crying if things went on like this, but honestly a good cry here and there wasn''t even a bad thing in his opinion. And the Vulpine Mother''s tails were obstructing the view so no one would really know that he was crying inside the mass of darkness.


    ''But I''d feel bad if I paint her fur in my tears and snot. Eh, I''ll just enjoy thefiness for the time being. Who even needs to cry? I sure don''t. I''m a big boy, after all,'' Evin thought as he snuggled deeper into the fox''s fur.


    The two stayed in silence for a bit before the World Sprite started to speak.


    "I know I said that we can start merging if you be a decent enough half-core, but the process is still very dangerous for you, even though we''re probably the mostpatible now," she said with a sigh, "Honestly, even I don''t really know much about the process. After all, I''ve never experienced the process of merging with another. The only thing that''s guiding me in this process is this instinct inside me telling me what to do. Although it might seem a bit flimsy to you, it told me that you were probably the mostpatible person I''ve met in my life the moment I saw you, and so far, it''s been correct."


    Evin could feel the grip of the tails bing stronger.


    "And it isn''t that I have a hobby of hugging underage boys, it''s just my instincts telling me that I should make physical contact with you more so we sync together better," the World Sprite said with a smile, "It''s also telling me that I should express my thoughts more often when I speak with you."


    "Thankfully, I''m quite the intuitive and imaginative person, so I don''t really have problems babbling on and on about whatever I''m thinking inside my head. I also think that it''s very good for you, since you don''t have to y a game where you try to guess what I''m thinking, like we''re some kind of teenage couple who are experiencing their first rtionships."


    ''Weird excuse, but okay.''


    "Also, I feel that I should properly introduce myself now. Although I call myself the Vulpine Mother, before that point, I was called Kyune. A bit of a cutesy name, for sure, but it''s one that I''ve kept for all these years, so I''d appreciate it if you refer to me as such. But don''t say it to others so wantonly, alright?"


    The World Sprite spoke more and more, slowly revealing to Evin about what kind of person was the Vulpine Mother, or rather, Kyune was. After listening for a while, Evin started to realize just how simr the two of them thought.


    Evin firmly believed that there were no two lives that werepletely identical, since in that case, there had to be some kind of spirit wandering through Earth like himself. But thematically, a lot of lives could be called extremely simr if one generalized happiness and suffering.


    Losing one''s parents and losing one''s lover could both be considered a simr experience. In both cases, someone''s going through loss. Likewise, winning a lottery and marrying a rich could also be considered simr experiences. In both cases, someone''s getting a lot of money even though they really didn''t do much to earn it.


    By this logic, Evin''s life was extremely alike to the Vulpine Mother''s  the long period spent alone, the need for something external to change the situation and the wait for it, the way they both decided to use humor to find some light in their darker situation.


    Even their fake power over others could be called very simr. Evin could literally impose himself on everyone else''s lives, except that none of those people would know about it, while the Vulpine Mother could easily be one of the most powerful beings in the World, except that everyone could just choose to ignore her they just wished to.


    "Now, you must be wondering why I''m so freely narrating my life experiences to you, but I''m very adamant about not teaching you any of my magic," Kyune spoke.


    "I would be lying if I said I wasn''t interested in that, yes," Evin said.


    "Well, after thinking about the merging process for a bit, I''ve concluded that the process could bepared to a game. A simple game of control, where whoever gets to exert more control over the other ultimately wins. A game where if you manage to win, it can be considered a win for me as well, but if I somehow win, we both lose and the punishment is to be eternally chained to this spot right here."


    "So naturally, I will be trying my hardest to lose, and you will be trying your hardest to win. For these reasons, I would also be telling you my every move and helping you to snatch a win from me with my best capabilities. With the odds so stacked on your side, you must feel that it''s impossible for you to lose, right? After all, you''re not without aplishments as well," Kyune said as the World Sprite grinned widely.


    Evin really didn''t know how to feel about it all. After all, the Vulpine Mother was basically implying that even with all these advantages, it was probably so hard for him to win, that they even had to hold a pre-match meeting to get things in order.


    "I''m guessing it''s still more likely that I''ll end up losing" Evin answered.


    "It is as you say. I''ve made some simtions about the process through a World of Thoughts method, and the times you''ve won only amount to about once in 30. You might think that it''s a sad thing, but in my judgement, 3% against a Beast Lord is quite impressive for a half-core" Kyune said with a genuinely impressed tone.


    "Would things change if I be stronger?" Evin asked.


    "It will, but ourpatibility might drop significantly. I''m fairly sure that we''re at our peak in that regard, but after this, we''ll just continue to drop inpatibility until it''s impossible for us to merge together. Obviously, there''s a chance that we can further increase ourpatibility if you start consciously make decisions you think that I might make, but something tells me that the results won''t be so great."


    The Vulpine Mother paused a bit to think about something, before continuing.

 Chapter 253: The missing Authority

    Chapter 253: The missing Authority


    "Anyway, let''s go back to the game analogy for a bit. The rules of the game we have to y will be simple. We have to merge together and you will try to put me under your control. You have to find a reliable method of control by yourself, without depending on me. It would be the best-case scenario if I''ve never tried or heard of the method beforehand."


    "Is this rting to why you refuse to teach me anything magic-wise?" Evin asked after listening to the requirements.


    "Yes, when we start the merging process and you try taking over, even without any input from me personally, my bodily instincts would kick in and wrestle back control from you. I know it sounds very weird and imusible to you, but don''t underestimate the instincts of a Beast Lord," Kyune said with a hint of pride in its voice, "At any rate, it''s best if you try to challenge me in an area that''s foreign to me."


    "Alright, could you tell me what Worlds or methods should I avoid when searching for a solution?" Evin asked.


    "Well, for the World of Thoughts and the Dark World, I''m only outmatched by the Authorities. The World of Emotions, the Heavy World and the World of Fire are a definite no-go, while I''m linearly average at the rest of the Worlds. My biggest shoring would be the Luminous World, but the only way you can create a control-method through that World is for you to be a control-freak narcissist who revels in attention and develop a very or domination specialty of some sorts" Kyune said after thinking a bit.


    "What do you mean by linearly average, by the way?" Evin asked.


    "I should be about as strong as peak lesser-imposers with them."


    "You''re not really being all that helpful," Evin said with a frown.


    "Well, when you get to live as long as I did, you start to stave off the boredom one way or another. In your case, you''ve started to stalk people, while I practiced magic"


    "But isn''t it fine for you to teach me about your secrets?"


    Evin found it difficult to see the corrtion between Kyune''s point and the fact that he couldn''t learn anything from her.


    "The more you start to be exposed to my magic, the more your chances of besting me slims. Don''t ask me why, just ept it as truth. And besides, after we sessfully merge, we''ll have all the time in the World to make you a proper paragon of magic," Kyune said annoyedly.


    "Sigh, alright. I''ll start thinking of a method to best you."


    "If you find a clue, tell me some general info about it and I''ll be sure to steer clear from it. Anyway, I''lle by to talk asionally, so goodbye for now," Kyune said and let go of Evin.


    The fuzzy feeling that Evin was feeling all this time disappeared suddenly as the Vulpine willed herself out of Evin''s dimension. He half expected the 50 or so World Sprites that the Vulpine Mother had to stay with him, but sadly, they disappeared alongside their mother.


    Evin sighed softly, as he pondered about a suitable method to control Kyune. He didn''t really need to think a lot, since the Vulpine Mother had basically cut off his ess to the Worlds due to her unparalleled talent, he could only search for things other than that. Methods from Earth didn''t really seem all that effective, so there was only one thing left for Evin to try out, which was of course, Soul magic.


    Evin had a few rare memories of when Anna had to cure a patient who were victims of someone else trying to control them through their souls. This was clear proof that the method existed it was just that Anna only had a very surface level knowledge about it. It was simr to how a mechanic would be able to fix a part in a car, but not quite recreate it themselves.


    ''Guess I can ask Four about it.''


    He nced over to the research crew and found them debating about a randombination of two runes of some sorts. The World Sprites were silently sitting on the sidelines, watching the process unfold in silent unity. Deciding that nothing needed his attention for the time being, he essed the World of Time.


    Inside, Evin looked around the almost colorless world, but weirdly, he couldn''t quite feel the eeriness he usually felt inside it.


    ''Is Twelve out or something?'' he thought jokingly and started shouting for the Authority. Thetter hadn''t really taught him any specific method to call her, so this was the only thing he could do for now. But a few minutes passed without much happening, so he could only conclude that the Authority was busy with something else.


    ''Is that creepy feeling really from Four''s stare? Or is it Twelve? What the hell?''


    Since he didn''t have anything to do for the time being, he could only hope that the Authority would show upter and exit the World of Time.


    Evin was snuggling in Kyune''s tails, listening to the cat and the fox sharing old stories with one another. The three were sitting inside the now dry caverns of the Beast Lord, with only the non-intelligent World Sprites surrounding them. A veryfortable atmosphere indeed, but there was a slight problem that he was currently facing.


    "Probably the saddest thing I''ve seen in Evin''s memories as a spirit was him starting hump some girl from the behind, while thetter was having sex with someone else," Kyune''s World Sprite was saying.


    Evin wanted to cry out in desperation, but the Vulpine''s tails made sure to keep his mouth in check, tightly wrapping around his mouth with unsurmountable strength.


    The problem was, Evin was being forced to listen to these stories, as the Beast Lord made sure to keep Evin here without him trying to run away or something else.


    "What, seriously?" Rith asked with shock.


    "Yeah, and after he tried it out for the first time, he started to do it so often I was actually feeling worried for him. He would be mimicking the position of the man, and would also grunt and moan in a simr way as well."


    ''Nooo!'' Evin screamed internally, but aside from a few muffled grunts, he couldn''t quite produce any other sound.


    This was another, newly developed form of "getting to know each other better", devised by the two women  sharing each other''s embarrassing stories. Naturally, they started with Evin''s stories and have been continuing on like this for the past two hours or so.


    "But I guess it''s inevitable, right?" Rith asked after thinking a bit, "After all, I can''t imagine living as a ghost for so long without trying those things Would you say that if you were a man, you would probably do the same?"


    "Maybe I''d do it in the earlier parts of my spirit career, but I expect I''d grow out of it pretty soon, no? After all, I think I only had sex when I was just a normal fox in heat. But that''s just biology in the works. After all, being a beast in heat isn''t something so nice and easy as a human feeling horny. You literally feel like you''re going to die if you don''t go and mate with a partner," Kyune said in her defense.


    "Yeah, even we Cosmics feel the same sometimes, and we''re considered to be species above unintelligent animals," Rith added, as she paused slightly, "Anyway, how long did it take Evin to, uhh, stop doing that?"


    "He never did Well, sure, it became a bit rarer, but he still did something simr like once a month or something. Though it did be quite kinky in the end."


    At this point, Evin just decided to give up. Life was life. One had to embrace their sad past and move on with their lives. Look towards the future and all that.


    "Well, it is sad, but I guess it''s natural. Alright, whatever, what''s your story?" Kyune asked.


    Rith mulled silently over the question before bringing up a story.


    "Did I tell you about how Evin once wet his beds and denied the fact that it was him ever since?"


    "No?" Kyuneughed and urged Rith with curiosity, "What happened, tell me?"


    ''You know what? I shall simply ignore this all,'' Evin decided and started thinking of the past week.

 Chapter 254: A leap to the top of the world

    Chapter 254: A leap to the top of the world


    Evin asionally popped inside the World of Time to see whether Twelve was around, but no matter how big of a scene he made inside the World of Time, he could never feel the lolita''s chilling stare. Eventually, he gave up on finding Twelve, deciding that she was probably busy with something else.


    On a different note, the research team gradually continued to work on their jobs, and Evin could see the first prototypes of the golems starting to take shape. The concept of golems on Alvox might seem a bit misleading to some, but Evin felt that one analogy fit the situation perfectly.


    Humans could technically be called golems, since they''re just bone-mechs covered in an armor of flesh, that is piloted by a brain. As for orthodox golems, it was the same concept, except the materials and the thinkingponent were a bit different.


    At any rate, the constructions of golems seemed to be going well in Evin''s eyes, but the research team was facing one big problem  the Vulpine Mother''s request to have the World Sprites independent from Evin or her.


    After Gizel and her team became familiar with the World of Thought methods provided by the Vulpine Mother, the team eventually decided that freeing the World Sprites using that method was impossible. The only path forward for them was Evin''s Soul Magic methods, so naturally, Evin became a lot more involved in the process.


    Due to this, Gizel sent a request to allow Evin to be a temporary part of the team, which would allow him to be exposed to the much deeper secrets of Magical Engineering. Sadly, the Paradra Tribe refused this request and only allowed Evin to learn runes and engravings that the project used. They also forbid the team from exposing more than 150 runes to Evin, since apparently, in a fit of stubbornness, Gizel had exposed a prior project partner to 4000 runes after making up a bunch of random uses for it.


    In any case, Evin memorized about a 100 or so runes in total using the photographic memory perk he lodged onto his soul. They weren''t anything too useful  just a bunch of very specific set of runes that catered to Somaturgy. Things like [Ry-Command], [Move-Unit], or [Connect-Energy]. It would probably be considered a great boon if he was someone passionate about runes, but sadly, he just wasn''t very interested in Magical Engineering.


    Telling himself that it was okay to suck at some things, he just tried to do his best in finding a solution for the World Sprites through Soul Magic.


    While all of this was happening, Kyune was enjoying her free time alongside Rith, as it quickly became apparent that the two got along very well. Since the team was going to use that as a method to give the World Sprites their freedom, fearing that she might be too proficient at the subject, she left the research team. Though she still made sure to speak with Evin now and then, casually exining her thought process.


    Evin could sometimes hear the two passionately badmouthing him in the background,ughing merrily all the while. Like today, they sometimes decided to bring in Evin on the ride, for the shits and giggles.


    After the two had their fill of fun, Evin was let go of Kyune''s hold. He didn''t even bother fighting back orining, as he knew it was a pointless waste of breath. Evin was cool and enlightened like that. Nothing like the man that was depicted in these prior stories.


    "I''ve been thinking of a daring idea the past few days," Kyune said suddenly, "What do you think of having me move into your shadow permanently? With my caverns and everything."


    "What, you can do that?" Evin couldn''t help but ask when Kyune casually mentioned moving a whole cliff into his shadow.


    "I''m very confident it''s possible. After all, it''s not a specific point in the world I''m tied to, it''s thend and area that''s seeped in my energy that I''m stuck in. But truthfully, I''m sure I will be weaker afterwards, since the whole entire Cataract has be fairly abundant with Dark Energy due to my influence. And I reckon that some limits might be imposed on me as well." the World Sprite which Kyune was using to speak shrugged lightly.


    "What kind of limits?"


    "Ugh, you''re sozy with your head. Just think about it. If it''s sessful, you would literally have a Beast Lord at your beckoning to do whatever you want. At that point, we won''t even have to merge together, as right after we merge together we''d be weaker than everpared to before. But if you have a portable Beast Lord hanging around in your shadow, well, you''d be the strongest man alive at that point, no?" Kyune narrated.


    "That does sound overpowered Is that why you think some limit will be imposed upon you afterwards?" Evin asked.


    "Yes. I''m fairly certain that Beast Lords be chained to their birthce because of a higher being''s arrangements, most likely the Empress. After all, we''re considered to be the strongest beings in the world right after the Authorities, with only some Super-imposers posing a threat to us. And unlike the super-imposers who are bound by the countries, we''re rtively free to do whatever we want. And some of us aren''t even remotely familiar with human morals and values, since they''re not reincarnated humans like myself. Because of that, the Empress needed to put some sort of chain on our us."


    "That does sound usible, but I''m feeling that you''ll end up dying if we try to cheat the Empress'' arrangements," Evin voiced his worries.


    "You don''t have to worry about that. During this long life of mine that I lived through, I''vee to notice one thing. The Empress likes it when her subjects try to ovee her arrangements. Sure she might decide to put another chain on them afterwards, but I rarely hear of mages or Beasts dying because they thought outside the box. Of course, this doesn''t matter for the cases were they were just died because of their stupidity."


    ''Now that I think about it, the Empress did seem to not care as much even though I stumbled upon her past as the Princess of Denial. She just had Twelve scold me a bit, and told me I couldn''t tell anyone else about her secrets. It was more of a p on the wrist than anything else.''


    "Alright, let''s say you''ll be fine afterwards. How muchnd would we need to move in the first ce?" Evin asked, remembering the size of the Third Cataract.


    "I''m sure I''ll be fine if I cut up the area around 300 meters and chuck it into your shadow, but just to be safe, let''s involve everything in the 500-meter radius. Since it''s impractical to cut off a perfect sphere, the mass of about 1 km x 1 km x 1 km would suffice, I suppose."


    Evin guessed that the area was about one fourth of the whole four-kilometer Cataract.


    ''Damn, Purzo''s going to die in andslide if we suddenly remove all that soil,'' Evin suddenly realized.

 Chapter 255: Golems

    Chapter 255: Golems


    "Don''t worry about the consequences afterwards. I can easily fill the remaining empty space with recement dirt and stone. And besides, it will be good practice for you since you''re going to be the one shoving all thatnd into your shadow with my help. It''s very beneficial to get used to ying around with huge amounts of mana at an earlier stage and you can get to feel how my body feels as well."


    "Sounds a bit lewd, but okay," Evin shrugged.


    "I''ll make some preparations outside, so just wait for me to finish. Also, start digging the ground around there so we have enough space for my cave to fit in without problems," Kyune said excitedly.


    "We should probably wait for the research team to finish before attempting this thing," Evin reminded, "For now, let''s just chill for a bit."


    "I guess you''re right,"


    The two chatted a bit before the conversation shifted to the Somaturgy team.


    "Also, Gizel''s team built their first prototype for the World Sprites. Lucario and Chrono are the first two pilots, with Kit and Modi being next in line."


    Kyune had already learned every World Sprite''s name in Evin''s possession and was maintaining a very good rtionship with them. Evin also noticed that after she overloaded them with energy and granted them the ability to freely change between two states, the World Sprites became much smarter as well.


    "And the problem of their independency?"


    "They still haven''t found a new direction in that department. Gizel told me to not get overly excited for it as well, so I''m guessing they think that it''s a fruitless task Well, some things in this world are set up to be the way they are, so I won''t try to fight something absolute."


    "Because of the Empress again?" Evin asked, curious to what rules and settings the Empress imposed on the world, upon her ascension.


    "Perhaps so," Kyune shrugged, "Though Gizel did say that over time, the World Sprites might grow independent by themselves. But since there isn''t any prior research on these matters, we can only specte and hope."


    "Well, it''s best to keep expectations low, so we don''t get our hopes crushedter."


    "I guess you''re right Maybe we should speak to the World Sprites about this soon" Kyune said and an ufortable silence ensued between the two.


    "It''s kind of sad how both of us are so pessimistic," Evin said wryly.


    Kyune chuckled in realization and told Evin some good news.


    "Well, on a more positive note, if we manage to seed with me moving into your shadows, our chances of losingpatibility will be small enough so we won''t have to worry about it for a while."


    "Is it because you''ll be inside my shadow?"


    [Yes. And if you ever need to talk or learn about Soul Magic, or any other method you manage to find, I can just cut off the connection between your shadow and the real world.]


    This was definitely good news for Evin. With this, he could take his time trying to find the perfect method for the job.


    With nothing much to talk about further, the conversation died out soon after and Evin said his goodbyes to the Vulpine Mother.


    He walked over to the research team to see how things were progressing with his own eyes. As he approached the ce, he noticed a construct made of a bunch of ck, light-absorbent materials were moving about in a makeshift testing field of some sorts. It reminded him of a modern day gymnastics field, but with lots of measurement devices on the ground.


    "Hey," he casually announced his existence and walked over to Tusa''s side, "Who''s piloting the golem?"


    "It''s the kid named Chrono. The tall, but slouchy fe. He seems a bit too rxed and unserious, but he was determined to be one of the most talented ones of the World Sprites at piloting the golems, so yeah. He''s now performing a set of moves that are designed to verify the hand-eye coordination of the golem. Next he''ll do sharp stops and sharp turns."


    Evin casually observed how the process went, before wondering, how a golem was more effective than a normal mage.


    From first nce, he couldn''t really see what the big deal around golems was. Sure, the golem that Chrono controlled was quite impressive to look at, but with a few years of training, Chrono himself would be able to perform the same movements in the same level.


    ''Well, I guess they can have better protection around their bodies and who knows what kind of perks beings of energy have over us flesh-bearing mortals?'' Evin decided.


    Sighing, he put the matter out of his head and focused on Chrono''s performance, which seemed to be ending.


    The golem he was controlling stopped in a spot where all the researchers were gathered and some ckish gas-like substance hissed out of it. The ck gas converged in one spot, before the sight of a tall, slouchy boy gradually formed.


    The researchers asked a few questions from Chrono, and he was soon let go. A few minutester, the researchers started to gather up their things as the day''s work was sessfully finished. Evin walked over to Gizel, after thetter sat on one of the seats in the testing field.


    "Oh, Evin! Long time no see," the woman said with a casual wave of her hands, as the essories on her body jingled pleasantly.


    From what Evin could see, Gizel was wearing a different set of dark blue and white silver,pared to the nice set of ck and gold she was wearing thest time Evin saw her.


    "How''s the research going?" Evin asked.


    "Hmm, pretty good, if you don''t include the Vulpine Mother''s request. We''ve changed the control inputs and outputs to better fit the World Sprites, and they seem to be very talented at noticing the small details that go unnoticed by observers like us. The fact that they''re so smart is very helpful for us as well," Gizel said with an impressed tone, "Even if their speaking capabilities are a bit undeveloped, they''re very talented in other areas helps a lot with our job, that''s for sure."


    Gizel paused a bit, seemingly trying to gather her thoughts.


    "It certainly beats trying to make a World of Thoughts spell work as a brain of some sorts Do you know how hard it is to make something artificial do the things we do on a daily basis? Simple things like moving our hands, seeing and recognizing objects with our eyes, listening to sounds ugh, I certainly don''t want to go through that again. Compared to that, this is a breeze in the park. I wish every job I did was as easy and productive as this. Did I tell you about that ursed rock that I''ve been staring at for the past fall?" Gizel started venting a bit.


    Evin dutifully listened to the woman''s rant, partly because he felt obliged to do so, and partly because he found the topic of the rant very interesting.


    What Gizel described was what modern Earth struggled to do with robots. Moving one''s hand, observing and recognizing things all of this would seem extremely simple for humans to do, but painfully difficult to have it recreated by machines.


    As for the ursed ore that Gizel was speaking about, Evin didn''t really know much about it. A pale-yellow ore which turns into a silvery white metal after cleaning, which is also ductile and malleable. He tried remembering if he ever heard of something simr back on Earth, but unfortunately, he wasn''t very well versed in geology.


    After Gizel vented, she started to talk about Kyune''s request.

 Chapter 256: Paradra

    Chapter 256: Paradra


    "About making the World Sprites independent, we really don''t have any idea on how to achieve that. Naturally, there were quite a few experiments on this subject in the past, but none of them really worked how they were supposed to. Soul-rted methods seem promising, but we still don''t know how that works exactly. As far as I know, you''re the biggest expert on that, so you''re probably going to have to work on that alone."


    "Yeah, the Vulpine Mother talked to me about this. We decided that it''s fine the way it is now, so you just have to worry about the golems for the World Sprites," Evin replied.


    "Oh really? Well in that case, I''m pretty sure our job will be finished in two weeks or so. We''ll perfect the control method for World Sprites and after that we just have to construct suitable golems for the World Sprites. With the help of magic, it won''t really take that long anyway,"


    "Oh, that''s perfect. That''s much faster than I anticipated."


    "And you don''t have to worry about payment as well, since we''ve learned a lot during this project thanks to you and the Beast Lord. The higher ups said that they were willing to pay the costs for all the golems needed for your World Sprites. They also told me to try and recruit you somehow, so if you ever be interested in working for the Paradra, know that their doors are open to you," Gizel said casually.


    Evin would usually ignore such offers, but things were a bit different this time.


    ''Although I prefer to just do fuck all by myself, I really wouldn''t mind if I be acquainted with the arguably strongest organization in the World''


    "Could you tell me a bit more about the Tribe?"


    It didn''t hurt to ask for more details, so Evin took this as a chance to learn some inner details of the Paradra.


    "Well, what do you want to know about?" Gizel said as she stretched.


    "Honestly, I just know it''s advertised as the most powerful group of mages in the World. Aside from that, nothing much."


    Gizel thought about the matter for a bit, before summarizing the general division of the tribe.


    "Well, the personnel in the Paradra are mainly divided into two parts: the research teams and the military teams. The research team that I belong to is divided into as many subdivisions as there are fields in magic, andtely, there has been a surge for non-magical fields as well."


    "The military teams, on the other hand, aren''t really divided into different fields. They''re more often divided into well-bnced operative teams. The elite teams consisting of at least one lesser-imposer and a group of 5 to 10 half-cores with no apparent weak World. So, if you ever get into one such team, you''ll most likely be paired with half-cores that don''t focus on the Dark World."


    "But, obviously, there aren''t many lesser-imposers up for the taking, so most teams would have a peak half-core of some sorts as their lead and a rtively bnced team of half-cores or quarter-cores as subordinates, mostlyprising about 10 mages, or some awfully capable Horn-bearers. These would be most of the normal teams."


    "How many teams are there in the tribe?" Evin asked.


    "State secret," Gizel said immediately.


    "Well, I can see how they''re considered to be the strongest force in the world if they have a hundred or so of such teams" Evin said.


    Gizel only shrugged, not really denying or acknowledging Evin''s guess.


    "Well, how does the research teams work?"


    "Ah, that. Well, it could be argued that the organization isposed of very, very talented researchers, except that most of them have asses instead of their heads, so it''s a bit hard to make friends there," Gizel started, "Paradra tries really hard to recruit talents into their ranks. They don''t mind spending manpower and resources just to unearth an obscure, hidden talent from the wilds, because of some vague rumor they''ve heard in a rural tavern. Naturally, the sess rate for these wild goose chases is depressingly low, but sometimes, they do manage to find what they''re searching for."


    "Am I going to get abducted and brainwashed if I refuse your offer, then?" Evin asked jokingly but the answer wasn''t a light joke like he expected.


    "Hmm, probably not. After all, you''re going to work for Nasst for a bit afterwards, so they won''t really try so hard to get you under their wings Also, you''re from the West as well, so they''ll be less inclined to move for you," Gizel replied in all seriousness.


    "Don''t tell me they actually go about abducting mages?"


    "Definitely not," Gizel said in a weird tone, "But it wouldn''t hurt to be careful, don''t you agree?"


    "Alright, just tell me, how do I avoid getting abducted?" Evin asked straightly.


    "I''m telling you they won''t abduct you. But to avoid abductions in general, I heard that being in public ces is good. Also, I suppose staying inside the West shouldn''t be a bad move as well."


    Things suddenly started to sound very bad for Evin, as he started to wonder about the feasibility of Gizel''s implications. The way the exchange happened was so weird and bizarre, that Evin couldn''t help but feel as if the woman was joking or not. Gizel, on the other hand, continued on as if she said nothing out of the ordinary, giving Evin no chance to mull over the topic more.


    "But let''s get back to our previous talk. As you might guess, a collection of such entric talents doesn''t really behave in a civilized way. Prideful, arrogant, attention-seeking, egotistic and generally obnoxious people all over the ce. It really makes one wonder how mother nature could create such individuals."


    Evin wanted to ask about the abducting a bit more, but Gizel continued on without caring for his troubles.


    "Everyone will act as if you''re challenging them somehow, and when they feel that you''re acting in a slightly demeaning way than they''re used to, they''ll start making a huge fuss about it all. It doesn''t really help when the Tribe''s social system is also based on merits and contributions. Sabotaging, giarizing and disrupting one another''s work ismonce, and until you join a partially independent team like mine, or be big enough to create a private team yourself, the difficulties will continue on."


    "You might think that the higher ups of the tribe should be doing something about this state of things, but they turn a blind eye to it by calling it apetitive environment that pushes on the development of magic and research. They site things like how we''ve developed so fast and efficiently in times of war and pressure, so small conflicts like this aren''t so bad for the Tribe Members."


    At this point, Evin just decided to let the woman finished before asking his questions.


    "I guess you can say that the situation is the worst for newer members of the Tribe. After all, if you go through the normal procedures, you''re probably going to find yourself wherepetition is thickest. Well, for people like me who''ve been in the tribe for so long, things aren''t as nearly asplicated. You go through some trouble at first, before you either get knocked out or rise up in ranks to be untouchable."


    "Obviously, there are cases where the tribe is unwilling to part with a particrly brilliant, yet non-aggressive mage, in which case they''ll pull them out of the mess and groom them in private," Gizel said and pointed at Tusa, "I''m assuming that if you''ve ever been with Tusa for more than ten minutes, you probably heard of Ke. He''s the perfect example of this special treatment. He''s been recruited into the Tribe for only 5 years now, yet the higher ups have groomed him from a quarter-core to a lesser-imposer in almostplete istion during this time frame."


    "Other than that, there isn''t much to say about the Tribe. It''s located in the Northern capital which is called Koidot City, and it also has a ton of non-mage human resources as well. I guess the easiest way to exin it would be to call it a verypetitive governing organization but that''s a bit of a wrong description since most of the governing is done by Lord Kal, the strongest super-imposer of the North, while the Paradra and the 10 other big Tribes just try to do their best to aplish his orders."


    "So, a kind of dictatorship?" Evin asked finally.


    "Essentially, yes. But it''s much more lenient that it might appear. There''s a special group of people who take care of politics, and Lord Kal tries extra hard to make sure to keep everything legit going to great lengths so that the decision makers don''t abuse their power."


    ''So am I going to get abducted or not? The Tribe just sounds like a very contradicting ce now And Gizel isn''t really doing a great job of advertising it well, so I''m guessing it''s not the holy sanctuary of mages that some people make it out to be.''


    Evin couldn''t help but feel confused about what he was hearing, but the talk about Kal alleviated some of his worries. After all, Evin had connections with the man. Even if he was somehow abducted into the Paradra, if he managed to get into contact with Kal, he was most likely going to be freed.


    In the end, he decided to wait a bit more on making the call, since after all, he was still very young and he still had that job agreement with Nasst. He could decide after trying that out.


    "Ah, Ipletely forgot to mention this, but do remember that you can get your hands on anything if you manage to get your grip in the tribe. Though... I don''t really know how much that matters for you though," Gizel said, broadly gesturing at everything.


    "I''ll decideter, maybe after the Horn Ceremony," Evin said.


    "Sure. If you do decide to join us, try to search for me and I''ll help you get on your feet there," Gizel offered, but Evin could tell that she just said it as courtesy. Although Evin hoarded a good deal of unique knowledge regarding magic, it was pretty obvious he wasn''t interested in Magical Engineering.


    "Alright, see you tomorrow then," Evin said, and the two separated.


    Afterwards, Evin decided to spend some time talking to the World Sprites.

 Chapter 257: An array of beacons

    Chapter 257: An array of beacons


    "How''s everyone been doing?" he asked after gathering everyone together. He decided to exclude Runa and Enri from this talk, since he sometimes felt that the two tended to talk over the others a lot.


    [We''re fine]


    [How''s you?]


    The answers that came weren''t anything unusual, so Evin continued on to the next question.


    "How are you finding the golems?"


    [Seems fun], [I''m excited to pilot mine], the majority of the World Sprites were saying, while Lucario, who had experienced the process firsthand revealed some more details, in a very professional manner.


    [It''s empowering to control the golems by turning into energy. It''s the same as me having control over a stronger and better body than my own.]


    Evin was very surprised at how coherently Lucario spoke. The boy didn''t even use any loose and useless words like most people did (himself included), plus the way he spoke simply oozed confidence and charisma.


    ''How the hell do some of these kids already speak better than me?'' Evin even wanted to grumble about it.


    "That''s great. Unfortunately, your mother and I, with everyone from the research team, couldn''t really find a way to grant you your freedom, yet," Evin began, but was quickly interrupted by D.


    [I don''t get why mother and you are so adamant about getting rid of us. Are we so undesirable that you two just can''t wait to see us leave?]


    The words sparked a barrage of simr responses. Some of the nicer World Sprites obviously weren''t as direct as D, but they all didn''t seem very excited about leaving Evin and Kyune behind.


    [Yeah], [We don''t want to leave mother],


    [We don''t need freedom], [We just want to be stay with you]


    ''Guess me and Kyune are idiots. Although we call them children, we both act as if they''re all adults. Of course they would feel weird if their parent figures start talking about letting them go right after they''re basically born'' Evin sighed in realization.


    He thought about reminding them to tell Kyune and him if they ever changed their mind, but he soon realized that the World Sprites would never even remember him saying these after just one year, and if they ever reach their teenage years and somehow enter their rebellious stage, they''ll naturally start wanting to leave their nest.


    He and Kyune just had to work on finding the method to set them free beforehand and giving them the choice when they wanted to actually leave them.


    "Alright, sorry for bringing this up all the time. Just remember that your mother loves and cares for you very much and the same goes for me. For now, let''s just get back to Somaturgy."


    Evin then spent some time talking to the World Sprites about their days, listening to them talk about random stuff, as all children did.


    Three weeks passed in the blink of an eye, as Evin was standing in the Vulpine Mother''s cavern, which now had a few poles decorated with a g on top of it. The gs had a variety of runes drawn on them, but Evin could see the shape of an underlying main rune on all of them.


    The research team had finished their jobs and departed his shadow, leaving him with 80 or so World Sprite operated golems at his beckoning. But of course, Evin didn''t have any ns to let these World Sprites fight wars with himself any time soon, despite all their protests.


    Well, he would find a use for them soon enough. Until then, Evin decided to focus on his own strengths. And coincidentally, today was one such example of that. Kyune''s preparations for the move were finally finished, and she had invited Evin into her now changed caverns.


    The Vulpine created a small silver blob in front of her and urged Evin to take hold of it.


    "Take hold of this."


    Evin did as requested and felt as his senses became connected to 23 new beacons that formed a shape of a cube with Evin in the center. The closest one was located about 30 steps away. Some of them were even located inside the walls of the cave, which meant that the Vulpine Mother had put them inside there somehow. They also emitted an unnatural pull, beckoning Evin closer.


    <strong> .         .        .</strong>


    <strong>       .         .         .</strong>


    <strong>.         .         .             .</strong>


    <strong>                          . </strong>


    <strong>.         .         .             .</strong>


    <strong>                          .</strong>


    <strong>.         .         .</strong>


    <em>(Author''s exnation: I know it''s a bit hard to understand, but I''ve drawn a cube depicting the thing a bit better here (hopefully). As you can see, every dot is a totem and Evin would be located in its center. Each totem would have 33.3 meters between each other.) </em>


    "I''ve made the process as simple as possible for you," Kyune began with a proud tone, "All you have to do is spread your Dark Room around this area, by connecting it to the totems I''ve ced all around one by one."


    Normally, Evin was unable to even cover 300 meters in a straight line with his Dark Room, let alone a kilometer huge, cube-shaped volume, but he supposed that the Vulpine considered that in her preparations. He casually entered battle-mode and thought ''Dark Room''.


    His automated brain did the rest of the job, and his shadow started to take on an unusually dark tint. His shadow used looked considerably darkerpared to other shadows due to the World Sprites inside it, but after it became a dimension, the darker shade became something optional. Naturally, to not stand out as much, Evin made it so that it looked and acted simrly to a normal shadow.


    Anyhow, after his Dark Room reached one of the nearest two totems about 30 meters away, Evin felt something very unusual. It was like another,pletely fresh copy of him was standing near the totem, freely offering Evin to use up any energy that it possessed.


    As he expected, when Evin tried to push his Dark Room further from that totem, almost none of his energy was used up. Evin casually broke his record of the widest area that he ever covered with the spell, and something told him that he was going to break this record countless times over.


    ''Am I supposed to cover the entire area through this method?'' Evin thought as he moved on to the next totem.


    Almost effortlessly, Evin was able to have his Dark Room connect to the 23 totems that were directly around him. After this, he started to feel the totems that were located further beyond the ones closest to him. He felt like the center of a giant cube-shaped web where every intersection of two strings was a totem.


    ''I''m kind of scared to find out just how big this thing is in reality'' Evin thought fearfully before he started to send his Dark Room to each and every totem around. His spell went through the walls of the cave, ignoring the concept of collision like no one''s business.


    But the fact that he had to make his usually two-dimensional Dark Room be three-dimensional cost him a lot of his mana. The volume that he could cover without the totems was actually just in range of the totems that were ced 30 or so meters away from each other.


    But there wasn''t really much he could do about this fact, so he could only diligently work on reaching the nextyer of totems.


    Ten minutester, Evin was able to cover the volume of about a 200-meter cube, which equated to almost 350 totems total, 342 to be specific (7^3 - 1). He could literally feel every single detail inside this area, through an extension of his Dark Room. He could even ept information on a much wider scale, since he was ignoring most of the things he could feel through the totems. And his mana-core wasn''t even strained, since most of the energy for this gigantic pool of darkness was supplied by the totems that the Vulpine Mother had left for him.


    But, as he pushed further and further with his spell, he could feel the strain on his mind bing greater and greater. After all, literally feeling everything around you wasn''t really a pleasant experience. Thankfully, Evin was partially exposed to a simr overload of information thanks to his eagle eyes, so he quickly learned to ignore most of the useless information he was exposed to.


    "Impressive how you were able to push through threeyers around yourself without getting fatigued," Kyunemented from the side, pride oozing from her mouth, "As expected from my candidate."


    But the pride was quickly reced by fake sympathy as she casually revealed the monstrosity she had just created.


    "But, as you can probably feel, the nextyer is waiting for you. And another 11 after that. A whopping 15yers where the number of totems increase exponentially with each newyer! I wouldn''t be lying to say that I''ve outperformed myself, in consideration of the pitiful amount of mana you can control."


    "Wait, how many totems are there in total?" Evin said, scared of the answer he came up himself.


    "31 cubed, which 29791 totems in total. Oh, minus one, which is our position, and the number bes 29790," Kyune said tly.

 Chapter 258: The Great Move

    Chapter 258: The Great Move


    Two days passed.


    Evin was looking at thest three totems that he had to engulf in his Darkness. His hair was drenched in his sweat, his eyes were surrounded by dark hollow areas due to the fatigue he umted throughout the two days, and his heart ached like a needle was piercing through it, as it was constantly working for the past two days.


    The Vulpine Mother made sure to keep Evin''s mind and body awake during this exercise of his, and was taking care of his nutritional and bodily needs through magic. Evin of course, soon forgot that he needed to eat, sleep and shit, wholly focused on the array he was working with.


    ''Steady Steady Only three more to go. No need to rashly spoil everything,'' he thought in his head.


    The Dark Room cautiously moved towards the next totem and linked Evin''s brain with the totem. After Evin made the connection, he quickly shoved the excess information he received from the totem into the symbolic corner in his mind, before his brain could get swamped by the excess information from the area.


    Once again, his brain only contained the connection and location of the 29788 totems under his control. Any more information than that was enough to destroy his concentration.


    Sighing, he then checked the rest of the totem web to see if there was any spot that fell out of his control.


    "Good" he murmured, after making sure that nothing was out of ce.


    Slowly but surely, he''d been getting to know about and then ignoring every little detail about this kilometer-wide cube. He could probably even count the number of hairy tarants in the entire ce, but sadly, he gave up after counting 42.


    In any case, whatever he was feeling could probably be called omniscience, or rather, proof why omniscience was probably the worst ability to possess. Evin was actually starting to feel sorry for gods and goddesses who were portrayed to be all-knowing and all-seeing.


    If he was such a god, he would have probably killed himself ten times over at that point. After all, his omniscience was only effective in this 1 cube kilometer area of the world, mostly made of dirt and stones, and even that felt like something impossible toprehend. Evin could only live through it because he was ignoring practically 99.99% of the information he was receiving from the spell. He imagined what it would be like if he knew and saw literally everything in the universe and couldn''t help but shudder.


    ''I''d rather not bother myself with these subjects, I''ll be satisfied with bing immortal,'' Evin thought and eyed the next totem.


    The Dark Room extended further beyond and Evin imed another part of the caverns under his possession. As always, he shoved the useless information aside and checked the status of the rest of the web.


    Unfortunately, three parts of his web were torn away from his control, forcing Evin to spend some more time reconnecting to them. Simr incidents happened many times in the past, so Evin wasn''t disheartened. Reconnecting a torn part of the web was much simplerpared to newly obtaining totems, after all. He had a general idea of what the area felt like and he could very easily shove the useless information away from his concentration.


    ''Same old, same old. I can probably do this while I''m sleeping,'' Evin thought.


    After he got things in order, he eyed thest totem. Finally, he could see the light at the end of the tunnel.


    Carefully and slowly, he repeated the process that he performed over 30 thousand times in the past two days.


    Connect to the totem, shove away the useless information, check the rest of the web. Miraculously, he detected no more problems.


    Like a holy tributary that had just ascended to the step above, he proudly observed what was probably the biggest achievement of his life. But, the moment of happiness wasn''t destined tost long. Evin still had one more task ahead of him. Onest push to finish the masterpiece that the Vulpine Mother had prepared for him.


    Almost immediately after he finished setting up the connection, he started to create a portal shaped in a that was designed to gobble up the huge piece ofnd from the bottom to top, the way he usually put items into his shadow.


    He didn''t have the leisure to check out whether the caverns were appearing where they should be, he could only focus on maintaining the grand spell he was performing. Kyune was also saying something on the sidelines as well, but sadly, Evin didn''t have the spare brain cells to worry about that. He''d stopped hearing her or anyone else for that part for the past day or so.


    After this brutal experience he was lived through, the only thought that filled his mind was to maintain the portal. The traversed steadily through the designated area and after ten minutes, it had passed through Evin''s body and he could feel that his body was now located inside his shadow.


    ''Yes!'' Evin could only celebrate in his head, but at least, he received confirmation that the spell was doing its job properly. Another ten minutester, the finally snatched up the huge chunk of the Third Cataract that was the Vulpine Mother''s home.


    Evin finally let go of the gigantic spell he was holding together, and his head cleared up as if the weight of a mountain was lifted from it. The omniscient feeling that filled his mind beforehand was also gone like some kind of dream. But Evin wasn''t going to miss that feeling. Not any time soon, at least.


    Blissfully, he let his mind fall into a much-needed stupor.


    Evin woke up, refreshed and reinvigorated. He found himself in a bathtub filled with a very nice-smelling lukewarm water, which Evin recognized as a medicinal bath of some sorts. The building he was in was the house he had built for himself in his shadow.


    "Oh, you''ve finally awoken," a familiar voice called out to him from the side.


    "Rith, good morning," he replied. Usually, he would have felt groggy after a long sleep, but none of that was apparent now.


    "It''s almost nighttime, but okay," Rith said and threw a towel alongside some clothes to Evin.


    "How long was I out?"


    "One day only."


    "Do you usually spend your free time apanying a sleeping child in a bathtub?" Evin asked smilingly.


    "I wish I didn''t, but unfortunately, you are very prone to slipping into the water while sleeping, so someone had to keep an eye out for you," Rith said and murmured out the rest with a sigh, "I wondered if you would wake up by yourself if I let you choke on water for a bit, but sadly you didn''t, so I had to save you from that as well"


    "What?" Evin asked, hearing something dangerous near the end.


    "Nothing. Anyhow, congrattions on your monumental achievement. I heard the Vulpine Mother saying that she expected you to fail once or twice before seeding. She was acting very matter-of-fact about it, but I could notice the pride in her voice," Rith said.


    Hearing about the incident, Evin reminisced about the reason why he ended up like this state in the first ce.


    Weirdly, the all-knowing feeling still lingered in some parts of his brain, like he was still connected to that huge array of totems.

 Chapter 259: The top of the World?

    Chapter 259: The top of the World?


    "It was quite fun, but I''d rather not do that again," Evin smiled back.


    "I''m sure you won''t. It''s not like one can cast such Grand Magic every day, especially not as a half-core," Rith purred, "But more importantly, the Vulpine Mother was asking for you."


    "Alright, I''ll go meet her then," Evin soon found his way to the Vulpine Mother, who was idly lying in her cave, which was now located where Evin nned to ce, thankfully. It would''ve been disastrous if he somehow made it appear on the World Sprites or the town itself.


    [Wee back,] a sonorous voice appeared in Evin''s head.


    Evin looked over to see Kyunezily ncing back at him, her ears half-drooping down to her side like a dog of some sorts.


    "I didn''t know you could talk with me like this," Evin replied.


    [Well, after that hellish experience your head went through the other day, I would be surprised if you couldn''t take on my inner voice,] Kyune said.


    ording to the Vulpine, the thoughts of Beast Lords had lots of noise and energy apanying them. So, when a normal person heard them, more often than not, they would hear something either too loud forfort, or something almost unintelligible.


    Since Evin learned to ignore these apanying noises and energies thanks to his practice with the totems, his mind was now subconsciously sorting out the unnecessary details from the Vulpine''s thoughts.


    "Cool trick, I suppose," Evin murmured in reply.


    [How was your experience with the array?] Kyune asked.


    "It was exhrating and almost addicting, but I''d rather not go through the same experience again," Evin replied honestly.


    [He-he, I actually thought you would fail quite a few times before getting the hang of it. I was prepared to wait a month or two for you to seed as well. Who knew you would manage to do it in one try?] Kyune said smilingly.


    "Now that I think about it, I feel the same way," Evinughed sheepishly and asked, "What happened to the caverns outside?"


    [Look outside yourself.]


    Evin peeked outside and saw that another exact same version of the caverns hade to be in the previous one''s ce.


    "You really could just create such a huge thing out of nowhere?"


    [Of course I can. It''s even easier since I just had to copy it as is though it was a bit hard to match the timing with the portal you created to transport the thing into your shadow. Not to mention you transported it to apletely different location than what we nned at first,] Kyune chuckled.


    "Huh? How did it appear here, then?" Evin asked incredulously.


    [Of course I put it there. I tried to warn you about it, but you didn''t seem like you were listening, so I had to take matters to my own hands. It was great practice for my rusty mana-core, since it''s been such a long time since I''ve lifted such a huge mass by myself Working on that totem array was quite nice as well. It really tickled my love for magic once more,] Kyune said in a nostalgic tone.


    ''How overpowered are you?'' Evin couldn''t help but think.


    Sure, he could make things weightless much easily through the World Switch of the Heavy World, but he definitely had his limits regarding that. In his estimation, if he used all his energy, he could probably make one loaded truck weightless. Undeniably, he couldn''t make a fucking kilometer big cube made of dirt and rocks float in the air. But realizing that this power would be someday his, he couldn''t help but feel exhrated.


    ''Technically, it''s already under my control'' Evin thought happily.


    "How do you feel? Do you feel anything forbidding you, or do you feel any chains being imposed upon you?" Evin asked excitedly.


    [For the time being, no. I do feel a bit weaker, but that''s mostly because of the sudden relocation. I''ll make sure to inform you when I do feel something off,] Kyune said and excitedly continued: [But for now, let''s get out of here. Thest time I''ve been to civilization was 300 years ago and it cost me a year in a sickbed. I''m excited to see what changed over the years.]


    A week passed since Evin''s great relocation and currently, he, Rith and Rhea were sitting inside the coffee shop, speaking of random topics. Since every time Evin appeared in the shop, the other patrons would mysteriously disappear, Rhea was free to take a small, indefinite break from the endless row of suitors that came toward her way.


    "So, you''re telling you''re the strongest mage in the World right now?" Rhea asked.


    Evin heard the question and sighed profoundly.


    "Not anymore. I was the strongest, for about three days and just as I was about to go and take over the world, my powers disappeared," Evin narrated, "Perhaps I should''ve expected it, since the power was borrowed anyway, and the fact that I obtained it a bit too easily."


    Of course, Evin was talking about Kyune moving into his shadows. Like the Vulpine Mother feared, three days after she moved into Evin''s shadow, she started to notice some things. She was saying something about her mana being cut off from the main world, but she was too afraid to do something about it. At the end of the day, she realized that she was unable to affect the main world in any way imaginable.


    Unlike Evin, she could freely cast her magics from inside Evin''s dimension, unting her powers to Rith and Evin, demanding praise and attention. She just seemed like a little girl at the time, joyfully experiencing all that life had to offer. But that was very quickly reced by weakness and drowsiness, as the Empress had dered her decree.


    Kyune was still the godlike being inside Evin''s shadow, but she wasn''t allowed to leave the dimension anymore, and she wasn''t allowed to cast any magic from inside the dimension. She also started to feel very tired, and soon went to sleep inside her cave. Kyune herself exined that it was just something temporary.


    "I feel like you''re just lying to me at this point," Rhea said doubtfully, after thinking about the matter a bit.


    "Think what you will. Besides, it''s not going to change anything either way," Evin said dejectedly, "Maybe you''re right, and it was all a delusion anyway."


    "Aw, don''t be sad. You''re a mage already, and soon you''re going to participate in the Horn ceremony, right? I''m sure you''ll get a nice horn for yourself, maybe even two. What''s the best colored horns to get, anyway? The silver one?"


    "Thanks, Rhea. I''m sure I will. Though something tells me my horn will be purple, or ck."


    "The purple ones?" Rhea said, as she put her hand to her chin, "In that case, I''m very sorry for you."


    "What? Why?" Evin asked, confused.


    "It''s because the purple ones seem very hard to possess in a fashion sense. It doesn''t really fit that well with other colors and there''s not much purple dye to go along with it. Every time I see someone with a purple horn, they always look like they''re struggling to fit their horn with the rest of their clothes."


    ''I suppose it''s natural that a non-mage would care more about the horn''s color, rather than their use'' Evin thought with amusement.


    "What do you think the best-looking shapes for a horn are?" Evin asked.


    "One that''s shaped like a cone, that sticks right on top of your forehead," Rith interrupted suddenly.


    ''A unicorn?'' Evin wondered, before realization hit him, ''Wait, she''s just messing with me.''


    "I''ll tuck a horn on your head and see how you like it," Evin said.


    "You can try it after you get the hang of the portals. I thought you had some potential at first, but you''re only getting the hang of material portals now, though of course, you''re nowhere near the level of practical use. Maybe you should be hoping for a golden horn instead of a purple one," Rith said.


    "Just let me visit that ''old man'' you keep talking about," Evinined.


    "I told you it''s best if you visit him after you''ve learned everything, at least after you can cast material portals at an eptable level. And also, stop asking for it more, or I''ll make it so you can''t visit him altogether," Rith threatened.


    "Sorry, master. I''ll be sure to practice my portals diligently during my work," Evin replied, "Very diligently."


    Rith nodded and focused on the milk-coffee in front of her.

 Chapter 260: Lunch with Rhea <3

    Chapter 260: Lunch with Rhea <3


    "I still don''t understand half the words you two say to each other. I mean, I understand the words individually, but not so much when they''re used together," Rhea sighed from the side.


    "It''s alright. It''s nothing important, anyway."


    "It is important," Rithined, "Now I feel like you''re going to ck on training during your job under Nasst."


    "Come on man, don''t worry about it. I''m sure I''ll do fine," Evin joked. Rhea chuckled slightly at it, but Rith didn''t seem very amused, turning even more grumpy than she already was.


    "Sigh, how long are you going to be gone for, anyway?" Rhea asked afterwards.


    "I''m not sure. I''m hoping I won''t have to do much during the job, as it is my first mission, but my superior''s expression seems to say otherwise," Evin said, remembering Nasst''s rather serious tone of voice as he told Evin about his new task.


    "Juste back soon, I''ll be waiting for you Always," Rhea said wistfully.


    "I''ll be sure to fly back to your side the moment I finish my job, my dear Rhea," Evin replied in a whisper, staring at Rhea''s eyes intently.


    "When did you two managed to get married?" Rith asked in a disturbed tone.


    "We haven''t, but it''s something that transcends mortal concepts like marriage and love."


    "It''s something much more profound and meaningful But sadly, you wouldn''t be able to get it," Evin and Rhea replied in unison, before falling into a fit of giggles.


    Evin finally managed to get some revenge on Rith, by teaming up with Rhea. Although he wasn''t sure how he was going to get back at Kyune, Evin was sure he''d be able to think of something.


    "But seriously,e back soon. I don''t think my head can handle managing this endless line of mening over to woo me," Rhea said, with a sigh, "Do you know how hard it was for the past month or so when you were gone? And for whatever reason, they all start by snitching on you! Do they think I''m dating you or something? And why does it never end? Ah, I wanna go home"


    Evin felt that Rhea was acting a bit over the top, but in all honesty, she truly was an exceptionally gorgeous woman, with the wit and charm to go along with it. Evin wouldn''t find it difficult to believe if half the people around had a hidden crush on her.


    "Is it that bad? Why don''t you do that thing, uh, wear a silver bracelet on our wrist to tell people you''re married?" Evin asked, before continuing with a half-joke, "If you want, I can probably even have a marriage certificate forged for you. You can put it in a case and hang it from the wall so everyone can see it."


    "You know, maybe I should. I actually thought about that. I really did," Rhea said, an indescribable sigh slipping out her mouth, "But I felt that it was too sad, you know? It''s not like I don''t want to find someone special."


    "But due to a certain someone, your standards got a bit too high," Evin said smugly.


    "Piss off. I wanna find someone nice, but it''s obvious these guys just want a go at my body."


    "Rhea, I''d probably want a go at your body too if I was old enough. It''s natural," Evin said, "Just give one of them a try. Preferably one that doesn''t start the conversation by badmouthing me. Who knows? Maybe you''ll enjoy the rtionship more than you expect."


    Rhea just sighed, looking at Evin like she was saying: ''I just wanna vent, stop being helpful''. Evin obviously noticed this, but he wasn''t going to care. He was going to be even more helpful. Since she was getting harassed at her job, why not get rid of the job entirely?


    "By the way, why did you end up working under Ofi in the first ce? So far from your hometown as well."


    Rhea looked back at Evin, with a sad-smug smile.


    "Money, of course. I mean, why else would I even bother working? The Cosmics were hiring for a young, pretty, and smart shopkeeper for an almost ridiculously high price of 90 silver coins a month regardless of sales," Rhea narrated, "I thought, ''Hey, I''m kinda smart, beautiful and young! Maybe I''ll give it a try!''. Not only that, I could also make connections with the Cosmics so it was a win-win no matter what."


    "I remember Abe telling me about how almost 400 women came to apply for the job," Rith added from the side."


    "How did they even pick you from between all those girls?" Evin asked, shocked by the revtions.


    "Well, first of all, the not so pretty ones were all disqualified, which left about 300," Rhea began, "Then they had us take a test of logic and mathematics, which brought the number down to 30. After that, they made us pretend to be shopkeepers and service workers, which lead to 18 girls got disqualified for being too rude. And finally, they started teaching the 12 of us how to make and serve coffee."


    "Damn, that''s a full-blown beauty contest with some extra steps, isn''t it?" Evin said, listening to the process.


    "Yeah, I guess you''re right. At some point, a crowd had gathered around us and the whole thing took two weeks to finish too. Anyway, at the end of it all, Boss just told us to make one coffee and put some love into it. Maybe I had an edge there and was picked, since I really liked the taste of coffee,pared to the others. Anyhow, I won in the end and got picked for the best job. But the rest were also hired by Boss and sent to different ces, I believe."


    "That''s very impressive, isn''t it? To be chosen out of 400 candidates," Evin said.


    "Mhm, praise me more."


    "Now I want to drink one of your love-filled coffees," Evin said.


    "For you, I always fill it with love. Not so much for the other guys, though. They don''t deserve it, they just get a shitload of sugar as a recement," Rheaughed charmingly, "But do you still want the coffee?"


    Evin nodded and Rhea walked up to the counter to prepare one for Evin.


    [Did you seriously prepare all this for me?] Evin asked Rith privately, [Feels like a huge waste of money, considering your frugal personalities.]


    [Shush. It''s not like we don''t know how to have a little fun here and there. And besides, it was great advertisement for the shops and the bank loans as well.]


    [Thanks, master.]


    Rith smiled almost unnoticeably and went back to her own thing.


    [Also, Rith, how are the ns on Nekosing along?]


    [It''s going well. From thetest I''ve heard; we''ve decided to set it at a price that''s 50% of a silver coin at first, with a subunit named Rallods, that''s always worth a 1/100th of a Neko. After all, we don''t want it to be something only essible to the higher ends of society. We''ll then make it so that you can exchange it for coins or lodestones, depending on its value. We''re sure it''s value will drop a bit right after its introduction, but with all the benefits that we can give the Nekos, I''m sure its prices will soar to greater heights in no time.]


    [But it''s still going to be very hard for it to rece the coinage system entirely, right?]


    [Yeah] Rith sighed, [The smarter ones guess that it might take decades, if not centuries. It''s going to be very hard for it to shed its name of an alternative currency]


    Evin heard the ns and felt some excitement at the chaotic future.


    [Can you advise Rhea to buy into Nekos while its prices are low? Tell her to sell itter when its price goes up?]


    [Sure, but wouldn''t that leave you without your dear friend?]


    [I can buy her amunication device so we keep in touch. Maybe I''ll have her be a guide for me in Tower City when the Velvet Procession starts. And besides, it''s not like she belongs to me or anything.]


    [Alright.]


    Rhea came back with the coffee, and the three started chatting randomly. But a message came to Evin''smunication device, ordering him to wait for Nasst at the mansion.


    "Alright, I''m gonna have to leave. I''ll see you in a while," Evin said and picked up the sack of coffee he bought from the coffee shop.


    Rhea gave him a hug and so did Rith.


    "Well, Rith will stay here with you, so at least you''ll have someone to talk to. Maybe she''ll keep the men from flirting with you on your job at least. Though it''s a bit concerning since she''ll probably end up addicted to coffee even more."


    "It''s all your fault, anyway. Stop trying to insinuate that I can''t control myself or something," Rith retorted.


    "Also, if you can, try to keep an eye on Arza," he told to Rith.


    "I''m sure the boy is doing wonders under Deminte''s hands, and I''m also pretty sure the woman wouldn''t allow me to butt in her work so easily. But I''ll leave you a message if Arzaes out of his, what was it called? Isted cultivation."


    "Alright. I''ll try to keep in touch, then."


    "Also, keep yourself safe. I don''t think your mission will be anything easy and lighthearted as you''re expecting it to be," Rith reminded.


    The three finished their goodbyes and Evin went back to the mansion. Once inside, he gulped one of the Chameleon skins and lied down onto his bed, trying to quickly forget the aftertaste of the thing he just swallowed.


    ''From here on, I''d have to eat this thing every two days at the least,'' Evin thought dreadfully, ''Working sucks.''


    But he''d gotten so many things from Nasst, it would be unfair for him to refuse the other''s request.


    ''Well, at least I got my payment beforehand, so I won''t have to worry about getting scammed,'' Evin chuckled at the thought and waited for Nasst.

 Chapter 261: Paradra Elite

    Chapter 261: Paradra Elite


    Thankfully, he didn''t have to wait for long as he heard the door to the mansion open and Nasst''s familiar footsteps walking towards his room. Evin got up from his bed and looked at the mirror one more time to make sure he looked presentable enough. First impressions and all that.


    Nasst then knocked on the door in a slightly urgent manner and Evin walked out.


    "Alright, time for me to collect some of my investment. Or in a more crude set of words, time for you to work your ass off," Nasst said with a smile.


    "Sigh I suppose it is inevitable. Where is this team of yours that you''ve collected for me. I''ll have a look and decided if they''re fitting or not," Evin replied in an extravagant manner.


    "Come with me. I hope you didn''t forget anything, since I''m pretty sure you won''t be able toe back for a while," Nasst said and walked with hurried steps.


    Not wanting to run after the man with his short legs, Evin started to float behind him after putting on his Channeling Artifact. Nasst got out of the mansion and floated into the air.


    "Follow me," the man said and took off.


    Evin flew behind and after 20 minutes of flying over the ins, Evin finally saw a group of five mages standing leisurely on the ins, wearing what seemed to be a matching set of dark-brown armor. With his eagle eyes, he noticed three men and two women in the group.


    Nasst and him quickly found their way next to them and the older of the women greeted Nasst.


    "Well met, Director. And this must be our new member? You weren''t kidding when you told us he was young, huh?" the woman''s words didn''t contain any negative intonations and she spoke in a very calm way.


    ''Clean and simple hairstyle and clothing looks about fifty, with some light wrinkles over her face, with a slightly droopy look to her eyes. No horn on her head so I can''t really tell what kind of World she uses, but she doesn''t seem to the up-close and personal type,'' Evin thought in his head.


    "Evin, this is the leader of your new team, a lesser-imposer named Sannah. You can get to know each other after you reach the designated area. Now go, before those zealous patriots find some other problem with your entry to the team," Nasst said and shooed everyone away.


    ''A lesser-imposer? Damn, guess I''m part of one of those elite teams that Gizel was talking about.''


    "Ha-ha, sure," Sannah said and started floating. The rest of the team also started to take on air. Evin also began to float alongside them.


    "Alright, good luck on your mission, but don''t try to do the impossible and be careful. You''ve seen the reports of our spies, so you might find some unexpectedpany there," Nasst reminded in the end as everyone started to float away.


    In the air, after everyone got into afortable speed, Sannah shouted back to the others, but from the contents, Evin could guess that it was mostly directed towards him.


    "At this pace, we''ll reach our destination in two hours or so. I''ll put an illusion around us, but it wouldn''t hurt if you can throw a few veiling spells over yourselves as well. You can chat around after we''ve gotten to our destination, but don''t make unnecessary noises during the trip if you can help it. If you see something unusual or weird, you can fly next to me and point me towards its direction. We''ll do a recap when we get there as well, so for now, just focus on flying."


    Everyone nodded in a serious way and continued to fly further.


    ''Naturally, the team should be very familiar with these procedures, it''s just me who''s not used to them And judging from how Nasst was acting, my entry to this team should be something quite unexpected.''


    Things would''ve developed much differently if Evin had gotten acquainted with the team beforehand, or if the decision was made much earlier. They might''ve even went on some training drill so Evin could get used to how Paradra Elites operated.


    But since things developed in a bit of a hurried manner, Evin and the team could only improvise on the spot.


    Sighing, Evin focused on creating a few rings of Time Beams around his body. He then brought out Runa out of his shadows and turned her into his armor in front of everyone.


    [Big brother, I thought you wouldn''t want to show me to others,] Runa said, surprised by Evin''s decision.


    [Since I''m sure to wear you in desperate situations anyway, I decided it was better to just put your existence out there] Evin replied, [Or did you want to hang out with the rest inside my shadow?]


    [No, no. It''s been a while since you''ve worn me, so I''m quite happy to stay here,] Runa replied cheerfully.


    [Don''t just be happy to be someone''s armor. Dream bigger, damn you!] Evin replied.


    Since the flight was starting to seem a bit boring, he could only bring in someone to alleviate the boredom.


    [Aren''t you the one who always tells us to be satisfied with the small things? But anyway, no one really seems to care that you untingly put me on in front of them, though?] Runa pointed out.


    [Yeah they don''t really seem to mind you,] Evin looked around and found that Runa''s assessment was spot on.


    [They sure don''t, huh. Only thedy on your right seems to show some reaction.]


    Evin looked to the side and saw a young woman looking at him with a look of concerned pity.


    [What the hell is that look?] Evin couldn''t help but ask.


    [Since this is supposed to be an elite team of some sorts, I''m guessing they''re used to their teammates having rare perks. So when she saw you putting me on so untingly, maybe she thought you were one of those people who reveled in attention. So she might''ve seen a future where you slowly realize how insignificant the things you were unting are and gradually falling into depression and obscurity?]


    [Stop jumping to conclusions. Maybe she just has a face like that. And besides, does she have a Beast Lord lying around in her shadow? Does she have 84 fully armored golems designed to be piloted by World sprites? I think not,] Evin retorted.


    [Big brother, you need to face reality. Super-mother''s practically useless now, and you''re the one who''s always insisting that we don''t take part in fights.]


    [Darn it.]


    ''When did Runa be such a cynical little sister? Who defiled you so? You were so cute when you just came up to me and talked incessantly about your daily adventures! Bring me back that Runa! I don''t want this one! It hurts me in ways that resemble her mother and a certain cat!''

 Chapter 262: Evins new team

    Chapter 262: Evin''s new team


    In any case, the two flew through thendscape, making rudements on Evin''s new team members. Currently, they had just entered a giant forest that seemed like it was going to span for a long time.


    [Who do you think thest male is named?] Evin asked as he looked at the slightly plump mage who had a single white horn in his head. The man had flown emotionlessly for the past 20 minutes or so, not even bothering to look around like some of the others were doing. A hint of restrained pride came out of his manner, making Evin wonder if he was some sort part of nobility before this.


    Runa seemed to observe the man for a few seconds beforeing up with a verdict.


    [False Lord.]


    [Why is that?] Evin asked.


    [He reminds me of a story you once told us about a double for a king who killed the real king and managed to rece him sessfully, since he was highly trained to act in a way that made him a very convincing king of the country. Afterwards, he started to rule over the country, but he couldn''t really do a good job of it. After all, he wasn''t trained to be a king of a country, he just knew how to act kingly and nobly. Anyway, you told us that he eventually sumbed to vanity and started to just abuse his powers as a king. He acted tyrannically, he threw many tantrums and you also mentioned how he became very obese due to his bad eating habits. Eventually, he died under the hands of thete king''s wife.]


    [Did I really call him fat?] Evin asked, wondering how the hell he even came up with the story.


    ''What''s the moral of that story, anyway? Don''t swindle people?''


    [You did. And you also called him bad at maths and magic as well, for some reason,] Runa recounted.


    [No, I didn''t. Why would I even say that?]


    [You definitely did! Stop being so dumb!] Runa shouted back.


    [Alright, alright, I did. Anyway, did you call him False Lord because I called some fictional False Lord fat and he fit the bill?]


    [Yeah]


    [Alright. I guess that''s fair enough,] Evin said, and the two fell into a brief silence.


    Honestly, it was one of the better ones that the girl came up with. The young woman who was looking at Evin previously was named Worrisome Sister, while the two other men were named Secretive Schr and Thug #1.


    Worrisome Sister''s name came from the fact that the woman really looked like someone who worried about others way too much forfort. She''d looked at Evin for about 5 minutes straight, seemingly worrying about his safety and future like some kind of overprotective elder sister, like her name suggested. Evin could even notice her asionally ncing at him even now.


    As for her looks, she seemed to be in her early 20s and had a rather pale white skin on her body. One thing that Evin had to note was the beautiful and vibrant blonde hair, fluttering in the wind as she flew through the air. She''d collected it in a ponytail above her head, which suited her very well in Evin''s opinion.


    As the only woman in the team aside from the captain, she also seemed to look up to the captain very much so. She would give the others a scorning look if she thought they were cking off at flying properly, and Evin could see her very seriously looking around and beyond the horizon, actively searching to find something out of ce.


    She also took care of her appearance very neatly, just like the captain: clean and orderly. This coincided with Secretive Schr, who also conducted himself in an orderly fashion.


    But Evin could notice that the Schr''s love for order and perfection seemed to stem from something other than one''s admiration for their superior, like Worrisome Sister. One look at him was enough to tell as much.


    His perfectlybed ck hair with no horn, the crustal-clear pair of sses on his head that looked to be cleaned every hour, the way his clothes were tucked tightly together like some kind oftex suit, even the way he flew was the textbook definition of, well, textbook flying methodology.


    ''But weirdly, there''s a sense ofxness, or should I say, chaos in his behavior.''


    This thought came up in Evin''s head many, many times as he looked at how Secretive Schr behaved. The man did scout around the ce asionally, but none of Worrisome Sister''s passion was apparent in his scouting. He only seemed to do it because he was ordered to and nothing else. Through some observation and dumb luck, Evin was also able to notice that the Schr only scouted in set intervals, which was once every minute. Evin also decided to take on the man''s example and scouted the area with his Eagle eyes every minute or so.


    As for Secretive Schr''s chaos well, it was a bit weird to exin. It was the same emotion that one felt when they mixed two things that werepletely normal and the end result feeling awfully wrong. One example of this would be seeing human shapes in inanimate objects in a creepy way. Or some random person drinking tea inside a swamp. Or maybe even putting flower decals on your butcher knife.


    The man acting so orderly and cleanly gave Evin the same vibes. Naturally, Evin could bepletely wrong and Secretive Schr could just be a Tall Schr.


    Anyway, Thug #1.


    A bit of a derogatory term, as the man was just a very buff. He also had a pink horn on his head, so there really wasn''t any question on the man''s specialty. As for how Runa came up with the man''s name, it was most likely because of Evin''s stories (again).


    When Evin didn''t really know what to talk about, he usually opted to talk about random things and asionally, the concept of thugs and bandits appeared in them. In these stories, the thugs were numbered for better rity, usually named Thug #1, Thug #2, etc.


    And as it happens, Thug #1 usually portrayed a buff man, whose whole personality revolved around being very strong. Hence came the temporary name for Evin''s new teammate. For those who are interested, Thug #2 was backstabbing bastard, and Thug #3 was someone who ran away at the first sign of trouble.


    Anyhow, Thug #1 on Evin''s team wasn''t really a thug-like person. He even seemed to be the harmless type, who diligently followed orders, but focused more on making friends along the way. That kind of guy.


    He asionally looked over at Evin''s way with a friendly and approachable smile, but was polite enough to not bother Evin. Perhaps he thought Evin to be scared and confused at first and didn''t want to pressure the new guy in any way.


    As Evin was concluding his observation analysis on his new teammates, Runa said something unexpected.


    [I think there are people walking around in that area, covered in illusions,] she said and directed Evin''s head towards a certain part in the forest.


    Evin looked over with his Eagle eyes and sure enough, he could see some branches of trees moving around in a very unnatural way some 400 or so meters away, but nothing visible was moving them around physically. The only conclusion left to make was that someone had made themselves invisible and were walking through the forest.


    ''Wow, I actually didn''t expect to find anyone here.''


    [Good job, Runa!] Evin said to the skinshifter before flying over to Sannah''s side.


    Getting close to the woman, he motioned at her to stop and pointed at the direction of the movement. Thankfully, it was still visible from their current position. Sannah looked over for a moment before stopping and gesturing at Secretive Schr in some code, and thetter created a World of Storms spell around the team as discreetly as possible.


    "How did you notice them?" she then asked Evin.


    "Dumb luck," Evin replied.


    [Don''t chalk me up to luck! And don''t call me dumb! If you have to make an excuse at least make a good one!] came the swift protest.


    [Sorry, sorry,] Evin replied and focused on Sannah, wondering what she would do.


    "Ertu, try and peek past their illusion," Hannah said and the youngdy of the team started to cast her magic with a ''Yes, madam!''.


    [Guess Worrisome Sister''s real name was Ertu,] Runamented during the brief moment Ertu worked her spell.


    "Two humans and oneyeq. I can''t tell whether the humans are just hornless Ivari or normal humans. They''re not wearing anything on their bodies to suggest they belong to any known group. From the information I''m seeing, I''m guessing theye from one of the many organizations of Tower City," Ertu reported.


    "Anyone else here thinking otherwise?" Sannah asked.


    ____


    Author''s notes for Mar 21st, 2021:


    So,tely, I''ve been thinking a lot about the state of my novel, especially the past 200 chapters or so. I''m also facing a small writer''s block, which lead to less uploads and reduced quality in theter chapters.


    Maybe I need a proper break, or maybe I just need to sleep more. But for some stupid reason, my mind can''t unthink of this stupid idea that got lodged inside it. I''ll give you all more informationter. Also, you can expect a huge chapter where I properly exin the state of my novel to you all. Thanks for reading, peace.

 Chapter 263: The test

    Chapter 263: The test


    "To be honest, it could be anyone, really. It''s not like the West doesn''t haveyeq citizens, and it''s not like the East doesn''t have any human citizens. And it''s not like we''re going to do anything different because of it," False Lord said with a scoff.


    "You could be right, but bnce of probabilities will suggest that they''re most likely a team from Tower City. It''s still good to think on these details a bit before moving... but you are right in the fact that we''re still going to do the same thing," Sannah said, "Anyone else have other opinions?"


    No one in the group other than False Lord seemed to disagree, and Sannah nodded lightly.


    "Can you make an educated guess on their strength, Ertu?"


    "Judging from the fact that they still didn''t notice us in the air, and the fact that their covering illusion is a bit botched, I don''t think they''re anything too difficult. The way they''re move around also suggests the same. Perhaps one of them can''t fly," Ertu replied.


    "In that case, let''s do it like this," Sannah said and turned to Evin, "Evin, please incapacitate the two of our covert guests and leave one conscious for interrogation. If something unexpected happens, we''ll provide assistance. We have a very talented healer here, so I don''t mind if you''re a bit forceful in your approach as well."


    [Ooh, a test,] Evin said to Runa.


    [I''m sure it won''t be anything too exciting, judging from Worrisome Sister''s verdict,] the skinshifter replied.


    [It would be best if it''s like that, but it doesn''t hurt to be cautious. Also, how can you still be so arrogant even after all the stories of arrogant young masters I''ve told you about?] Evin replied to Runa, before nodding to Sannah.


    "Before you go, wear this mask," Sannah said and gave Evin a basically featureless white mask, with a cross shaped ck star on its forehead.


    ''Is that like the mask that Kena and some of the Cobfolk were wearing?'' Evin thought, reminded of the featureless masks he saw in the City of Nevernight.


    The rest of the team also put on their masks. They also started to feel less noticeable to his mind like if Evin wasn''t looking at them directly and not conscious of the fact that they existed, he wouldn''t really be able to take notice of them.


    Evin put the thing on and weirdly, couldn''t really feel it anymore. It was basically the same as not wearing anything, but judging from how everyone else looked, Evin was sure that the mask was working properly.


    ''Pretty cool,'' he thought before putting his gaze onto where the three-man group was supposed to be.


    Taking care not to expose himself, he started to peek through the illusions they''ve created. Like Ertu said, the illusion itself was ill-made so Evin didn''t really struggle to ovee it and the vision of the three became apparent to his eyes.


    Like Ertu said, the group didn''t really look like anything special. A ragtag bunch of men, who didn''t even look like proper mages in Evin''s eyes. In the kingdom and the North, every mage that fell under Evin''s eyes looked clean and suave, donning their bodies with thetest styles fashion had to offer.


    But these guys looked like nothing more than a bunch of rather healthy and fit carriage drivers. Evin wondered briefly if they were just that, and were using some magical artifact that didn''t need mana.


    ''Are the mages in Tower City not so well off as the rest of the world?'' Evin thought.


    ''Well whatever. Not my problem to worry about that. Let''s just perform my orders in the safe and easy manner,'' Evin thought and flew towards the group steadily, his mind automatically weaving a spell after receiving the code word.


    He disabled his rings of Time Beams, since currently, they were basically only useful as an rm system of some sorts. Runa turned into a spear in his hands, as he willed the ready spell to manifest near the group while he himself lunged at them with high speed.


    The group started to choke on nothing, and a momentter one of the humans fell prey to Evin''s precise attack to their head. With his daily practice of his Authority Style, Evin could make these attacks in his sleep and even then he wouldn''t identally kill his opponent.


    Evin expected the group to panic at the sudden attack, making his job a bit easier, but surprisingly, the two mages retaliated almost instantly.


    The remaining human emitted a Shockwave from his palm towards Evin''s direction while theyeq seemed to conjure a box of stone around Evin in an attempt to inhibit his movements.


    Evin quickly grabbed the unconscious man, threw him into some random location in his shadow, while he himself stayed on the border between the two worlds (inside the thick dark area? I''m gonna revisit the old chapter where Evin discusses this ability and make some stuff weaker since it''s much too op in its current state), observing the remaining two men. Theyeq could have a method to wake the man up, so he didn''t wish to turn the 2-man fight into a 3-man one again.


    He then casually observed how the two might react and saw them almost synchronously cast a Luminous World spell, in an attempt to uncover Evin''s location. It wasn''t very hard to do, since while everything around Evin''s location reflected the ring amount of light from the two''s spell, Evin''s shadow greedily absorbed it, making it look like a ck stain on white paper.


    Then, while theyeq was focused on maintaining the light source, the human conjured a huge ball of fire shaped into the form of an unknown to Evin rune and threw it at the ck spot.


    Evin didn''t know what the rune did exactly, but he was pretty sure it was pretty damn good at dealing with the Dark World. But, Evin didn''t feel very threatened, as he casually increased the size of his shadow and turned it into the Dark Room. At this point, the effects of the two enemies'' Luminous spell was practically non-existent as everything inside the Dark Room became pitch ck.


    This also made it so that Evin''s own location wasn''t so easy to target. After all, he wasn''t invulnerable in this state.


    The ball of fire then hit the dark area and burst into mes. Evin could feel that in the parts where the fire burnt, the Dark Room experienced some unexpected changes.


    ''It looks like the Rune''s effect is to make things undertake random changes,'' he thought as he noticed what was happening to his shadow.


    Some part of it was turning into World of Fire energy, some part of it was turning into Earth energy, while other parts turned into Time energy.


    ''These guys are pretty strong,'' Evin couldn''t help but think as he worked on recing the changed areas of his spell with new and healthy darkness.


    He was sure that the rune he just saw was pretty high end stuff, judging by its effects. After all, the only other simr ability he knew with a simr effect was Relvek''s Purifying Darkness.


    ''No It''s still quite far from the Absolute that Relvek''s famous for. Maybe spells made with a rune''s help can never be absolutes?'' another idea appeared in Evin''s head very casually.


    This spell only seemed to be a pale imitation of that. The conversion process was quite slow, so there was no risk of the Dark Room disappearing The effects were random and Evin wasn''t even sure if the rune would work against other Worlds. The spell could something that targeted the Dark World only for all Evin could know. He also noticed that the process took a bit longer to bepleted in the thicker areas of Evin''s shadow. He tried sending some more energy to some parts that were burning and the conversion didn''t even happen.


    And that wasn''t the end of the problems. The human that cast the spell started show very clear signs of mana-core exhaustion  raspy breath, swaying body, painful grimace on his head, all that good stuff that spelled one''s impending death.

 Chapter 264: Exploitation

    Chapter 264: Exploitation


    [Do we strike back?] Runa asked and Evin mentally nodded back.


    The two took this as a chance to retaliate and swiftly dealt a merciless blow to the man''s head. The man staggered for a bit before falling into the darkness, where Evin promptly collected him and threw him further inside.


    "I give up. Just, spare our lives," the remainingyeq said fearfully after he witnessed everything. He then held his hands above his head, looking around the darkness warily.


    ''Dude, you''re a mage. How the hell am I supposed to feel assured if just put your hands in the air?'' Evin thought and looked over to Sannah.


    Thankfully, thetter was slowly gliding towards his location with the others following closely behind her.


    Evin took this as a cue that they would take care of the ensuing events and started to pull out the two unconscious humans from his shadow. He then dispelled his Dark Room and casually appeared a few meters in front of theyeq.


    "Shit, the Paradra" the man said, as he looked at Evin''s head.


    "Wait a moment, please," he said, wondering if he was speaking a bit too politely for someone who just incapacitated two of the man''s friends.


    But that wasn''t the least of his worries, since a very rough and distorted voice came out of his mouth.


    ''What the fuck was that?'' he thought with some shock, before realizing that it was probably the mask''s doing. Honestly, the thing was so versatile, Evin was pretty sad at how he never bothered to find one for himself earlier.


    In any case, Sannah soon came over and started the interrogation.


    "Who are you people and what are you doing inside the Northern borders?" came the first question.


    "We''re from a Mage Organization in Tower City named the Old Relics, and we were searching for the secret ruins that were said to appear in this forest," came the reply.


    [For members of a group named Old Relics, they surecked any decent artifacts to fight with,] Runamented.


    [Maybe they were going to search for ancient artifacts in the supposed secret ruins, so they don''t feel so left out from the rest of the group. Though it feels rather far-fetched to think that this forest would have an ancient secret ruin,] Evin replied jokingly.


    The two were having a jolly good time, but Sannah and the other weren''t having none of it.


    "Where''s the permit for this expedition of yours? Judging from how you were moving around covered in illusions, I''m guessing you didn''te with the proper documentations from the North. But even so, you should have received some sort of okay from your organization, right?" Came the next barrage of questions.


    "We do have a written order here and another permit from the North as well, uh, here" the man stammered out and brought out two pieces of paper, "We had just finished a previous work and were about to head back, but a message came from headquarters, telling us to check out this area here... since we were already here. Our leader, the one that fell unconscious first, refused vehemently... Of course, we did as well, but the organization wouldn''t have none of it and started threatening us through our Oaths!"


    Evin took a nce at the piece of paper and sure enough, he saw a permit with the Northern border stamp (that he saw when Purzo was documenting his papers) that had expired a week ago and another less formal letter with some very imposing wording in it. The letter was signed by someone named Larush, and was stamped with a symbol that seemed to depict an upside down triangle drawn inside a bigger upright triangle, with three horizontal lines running through it all.


    "Is there a method you can contact your organization?" Sannah finally asked after she looked over the letter without really showing any reactions.


    "Our leader has one in his Storage Ring, I can show it to you if you want," theyeq said, pointing at one of the men on the ground.


    Thug #1 picked the man up and let theyeq pick through his belongings, after which he brought out a tablet that was very simr to the one that Evin used.


    On it, some words were written that confirmed the man''s story. The group''s refusal was written on the tablet, and the ensuing threat from the organization was apparent as well. The whole thing was alike the screenshot of a heated argument between the two parties.


    [Wow, guess they really were searching for ruins,] Runa said as she was looking at the contents by sharing Evin''s eagle vision.


    [They could''ve easily made this up to prepare for a story of some sorts. We can''t really assume that any piece of evidence is true. Though it is a bit weird, since they really can''t go far with this lie, since we can very easily find out if he''s telling the truth or not,] Evin exined.


    Just like he thought, Sannah started to write some words on the tablet, as if she was the leader of this group from Tower City. She even made sure to write in ways that conformed to how the leadermunicated previously, which was usually just a few sarcastic jabs and a few cuss words here and there.


    In the end, she wrote up some story about how they''ve scoured the entire forest for the past three days and that there was no sign of an ancient and mysterious ruin anywhere.


    Very quickly, a reply came, threatening the group to keep searching or get stuck inside the forest without their ability to ess their mana-core.


    ''Guess the members of these organizations don''t really have it as easy as us,'' Evin thought as he looked at the reply. He didn''t know how these people managed to get swindled into taking such an exploitable Oath, but from this exchange, he confirmed that people were still trying to put others under a ve contract like the Hexmagi Alliance did in the past.


    Sannah then replied in a fearful, but still reluctant manner, writing about the group seeing a group of mages flying through the air under a veil of illusions.


    [Since they''ve flown away, they won''t being back any time soon. Shut up and search the forest. This is yourst warning. Don''t test the limits of our patience,] came the reply. Short, simple, and imposing.


    [Don''t you have anything else other than the things you''ve told us? This forest is kinda fucking big if you''ve never been here. A molding and decaying old ruin isn''t really so easy to notice as you might think,] Sannah replied.


    [I do not like the way you call ruins molding and decaying. They''re the prime locations for relics of the past. Be more mindful of that fact when you mention it in the future. We want to see our members show passion and love for the greatest historical troves of treasure we have ess to.]


    ''Damn, this reminds of me of thosepanies that like to call its employees family members and then try to exploit them under the pretense of "familial love" and "self-sacrifice",'' Evin thought with amusement, exining some things that Runa found confusing.


    In any case, the conversation went back and forth for a while, before Sannah seemed convinced by everything.

 Chapter 265: Reanalyzing

    Chapter 265: Reanalyzing


    "Eleven Two, you''re going to apany our friends here to the nearest border control unit, which should be located about 20 kilometers south from here. Go there, exin the situation and the personnel there should know what to do next. After you''re finished, we''ll meet at our original location," Sannah ordered to Secretive Schr.


    "Yes, Eleven One," thetter nodded and tied up the two unconscious men to theyeq and had them float near him, "Alright, boys, guess we''re going a little trip together."


    Weirdly, Evin could see a hint of hope in theyeq''s eyes, as hefortably floated under Secretive Schr''s spell.


    [Well, guess anything''s better than their current circumstances, huh?''] Evin said to Runa amusedly.


    [Are Eleven Two and Eleven One code names?] Runa asked.


    [I guess. Pretty sure Eleven''s the code name of the team, and we''re just the numbers. I would be Eleven Six by that logic.]


    A minuteter, Secretive Schr was flying away southwards with the three-man group next to him. After they were sufficiently far away, Sannah took off her mask and said to False Lord.


    "Yazuran, search this forest and try to find the ruin that matches the previous description. I have a feeling it might be connected to our mission somehow. If you can''t find anything in two days, you can give up and follow behind. If I''m not mistaken, there should be another ruin five kilometers or so northwest of here, one that we''ve found before but I''m not quite sure if it''s the same one. Go and check that out as well. If you feel that they''re sufficiently simr, you can forget about the two days ande straight to us."


    False Lord, who was apparently named Yazuran, nodded slightly and started flying towards the northwest.


    Thug #1 and Ertu took off their masks as well, so Evin did the same. Sannah looked over at Evin and told him some stuff.


    "Great work just now. It''s also great timing, since we''ve beencking a good Dark Mage for a while. I was able to fill in the spot through some tricks, but naturally, I was nowhere good as you are," Sannah started with some praise.


    "Thank you. I was actually quite surprised at how strong the mages were," Evin replied.


    "Ah, about that. I feel that you''re too curious as a Dark Mage, or someone who should specialize in stealth and assassinations," Sannah said.


    "What do you mean?" Evin asked. It was a bit weird to be scolded for being curious as well.


    "In my opinion, you could''ve taken care of the three mages much quicker than that. I reckon you had the means to knock them out in the first few seconds of the fight, as your World of Storms spell stunned the group for a good three seconds. During that timepse, it looked like you decided to focus on only one mage, even though you could''ve attacked and injured the others as well."


    Evin thought about the fight for a moment and agreed with Sannah''s judgement. He could''ve sent the other two sufficiently big punches of air, or he could''ve mmed them down to the ground with the Heavy World. But he decided to see how the other two reacted, wasting precious seconds that might''ve cost him his life if one of them was much stronger than they appeared.


    ''I guess I can see why I''m being scolded for being curious,'' Evin thought.


    "Usually, Dark Mages prefer to end fights before they even begin. After all, they usually hold the initiative in starting the fights with their normally unparalleled stealth abilities. Especially in the dark. After all, not everyone can create a Dark Room like you do," Sannah added, before shrugging lightly, "But, this is just a little tip from me, you don''t have to take it too seriously. For now, let''s just keep flying towards our original destination. We''ll have plenty of time to talk about things afterwards."


    Sannah then started to float into the air, and the remaining two others followed behind. Evin also got onto the air and the group continued their journey Eastward.


    [I don''t even know what she''s so mad about, humph,] Runa said, referring to Sannah.


    [Well, it''s true that we could''ve taken out the other two much faster if we tried hard enough. I probably didn''t even need to dive in like that and instead could''ve just sent a few strong spells. After all, I''m not so weak in regards to my spellcasting,] Evin replied, analyzing the situation better.


    [But we did take them out in the end. There weren''t any problems with taking things slowly, right? If we tried to do things too rashly, we might''ve ended up in a worse position than that, no? Like you said, we probed the enemies with your World of Storms spell, while also making sure to take care of one of them effectively,] Runa insisted.


    Evin thought a bit and realized that the skinshifter was right as well. In one way, it was best for him to diligently focus on one guy instead of trying to randomly trying to hit everyone.


    After thinking about things a bit more, Evin even started wondering if this was another test by Sannah, who was maybe trying to see how easily convinced Evin was.


    ''Now I''m just overthinking things,'' shaking his head, Evin started to focus on the flight, scouting the area for anything else out of the ordinary.


    But, the rest of the journey was rather uneventful, so after a little less than two hours, Evin saw some clouts of wispy smoke rising from the edge of the forest. Soon enough, he saw the shape of a town appear from behind the trees.


    The town didn''t look like anything special, beautiful, or nice to live in. If there was a Tribe of some sorts here, they definitely weren''t anything notable as Evin wasn''t able to find any unique symbols or banners depicting said Tribe. It reminded Evin more of the City of Smog he visited a long time ago.


    ''Is it just me, or are the towns that don''t have a Tribe affiliation in the North feel much more depressing than the other towns? Even the towns from Anna''s memories seem more lively than this,'' Evin thought, before shaking his head, ''I shouldn''t make such hasty judgements, I''ve only been to like 3 towns in total, after all.''


    Of course, the atmosphere here was much better than Kena''s neglected city that was probably just a glorified prison for the residents inside, as Evin was starting to suspecttely.

 Chapter 266: Team Eleven

    Chapter 266: Team Eleven


    In any case, the group silently floated beyond the walls of the city as Sannah lead everyone to an inconspicuous building in one of the better areas of the town. Something that Evin guessed was the area designated for the rich and able residents of town. The group went inside the building through the back door and Evin saw an almost empty building that seemed to house only some stacks of supplies and some lodestones.


    Ertu started to work some Magical devices that created a bunch of illusions around the building. She was making sure of their effects one by one, as she was walking around the building.


    ''Is this a secret base for Paradra members or something?'' Evin thought as he looked around curiously.


    "Wee to one of the Paradra''s temporary base of operations," Sure enough, Sannah dered it as such, after entering a room that only had a table with a few chairs around it.


    "I feel we haven''t really been properly introduced to each other," Evin said, "My name''s Evin and I was put into your team under Nasst''s orders."


    "My name''s Sannah and I''m the lesser-imposer leader of team Eleven of the Paradra. We fall under Nasst''smand, so usually we do information gathering and other secretive stuff under his orders. I specialize in the World of Space and the World of Emotions," Sannah replied with a smile and urged the other two to speak.


    "I''m Ertu, code name Eleven Three, and I specialize in the World of Fire and the World of Water," Ertu said and shook hands with Evin in a stiff manner.


    "My name''s Bulokhenottar, but you can just call me Bull. My code name''s Eleven Four and I''m the World of Life and World of Earth specialist here. Nice to meet you, Evin," Thug #1 said and shook Evin''s hands smilingly.


    "Nice to meet you. Guess I''m code name Eleven Six," Evin replied back.


    Sannah nodded and told Evin about the missing members.


    "As for the other two, the tall one''s named Dzuko, and he''s the vice-captain of the team. He specializes in the World of Storms and the Heavy World. Yazuran, on the other hand, specializes in the Luminous World only. His code name''s Eleven Five."


    "No specialist for the World of Thoughts?" Evin asked.


    "Well, everyone''s expected to be decent at it here in the Paradra, but Ertu here usually takes on the task for the team. She''s very talented at it as well," Sannah exined.


    Evin nodded, finding it sensible.


    "Well, I guess I can start talking to you about the mission now," Sannah said and cleared her throat, "Our objective is to first find a secret base located somewhere around this town, and afterwards go inside to see what it contains. The base is believed to be abandoned by an unknown organization and should be made mostly out of metallic materials. Previous bases from said organization gave a very distinctly off aura from it. Nothing in the magical sense of the word, it just felt out of ce. So make sure to report anything suspicious to me."


    "Moreover, we were instructed to tread very carefully upon entering said secret base, as there were many cases of previous ones containing traps and lockdown mechanisms inside. So, if you manage to chance upon its entrance somehow, don''t be rash. Report it to me and we''ll work on a n afterwards. Do you have any questions?"


    Evin wondered if they were supposed to just walk around the area, until they stumbled upon the thing, but he decided to not bother asking, since surely, the team had its ns regarding that.


    ''And also, isn''t it a bit overkill to send a lesser-imposer for this job?'' Evin wondered.


    After all, he felt that there really wasn''t any need for the team to personally search for the base. They could delegate the task to other teams and after that, the elite team could take over and explore the base.


    "Fundamentally, that''s all there is to it. A bit of a boring job, one that''s usually ryed to the Half-core led teams below us. But the other spies under Nasst have found that mages from the other Countries and Tower City are also targeting this secret base. The elite kind, like us. Thus, the need for all this secrecy and carefulness," Sannah exined.


    ''Ah, makes sense.''


    Evin could see where this was going. After all, if one team had a lesser-imposer in its ranks and the other side didn''t, then the oue of that sh was quite obvious.


    "We''ll talk about how we''ll search for the base in a bit I''ll also have Ertu here exin to you how we operate in general. But first, we need to talk about how you''re going to fit into the team," Sannah said, "Normally, you would need to have studied for a long time inside the Paradra Tribe to even enter the normal teams, but thanks to Director Nasst pulling some strings in your favor, you were allowed to join an Elite team from the get go."


    "Of course, this poses a few big problems for us as well, since there''s absolutely no synergy between us to speak of. If we ever try to fight a simrly matched team from another country, you''re more likely to be a liability, rather than an asset. Sure, you''re pretty capable as we''ve seen today, but as long as you''re not strong enough to settle the fight alone, it''s hard for you to blend in with the rest of the team. Do you agree?" Sannah asked.


    "I''ll do my best to get used to how things work in this team," Evin said.


    "No. For now, it''s best if we just forget about cooperation entirely. Since we don''t have any time to work on our unity, it''s best if we don''t do anything is what I''m trying to say."


    "Uh-huh?"


    "Thankfully, you''re a Dark Mage so it''s very easy for you to hide on the sidelines and do your own thing. During a fight, maybe you can try to assassinate one of the unsuspecting members of the other team, or maybe you can just act as a scout of some sorts and inform us of your findings," Sannah shrugged.


    "Ah, that means I would just be a lone third party in a fight that''s on your side," Evin got the gist of things. It was a bit dangerous for him, but if he thought about it a bit, it was the best possible path for the team.


    "Exactly. But remember, your upmost priority would be to keep yourself safe. Only act if you''re ny percent sure that whatever you''re trying to do would work. Also, if you want to assassinate someone, never go for it if you''ve never seen them fight before. Always assume that those elite mages have one method to save themselves from certain death and three methods to kill you in a second," Sannah reminded in a grave tone.


    Evin took on the words to heart and nodded heavily.


    "Well, even though I say these frightening things, honestly, you''re quite strong judging from the fight today. You just need some real-life experience to consolidate your strength."


    "Thank you," Evin replied with a sigh.


    ''Either praise me or just diss me to the ground. Stop being so inconsistent with your attitude,'' heined inside.


    "At any rate, the search for the base will be done in a simr way. We''ll be searching for the base as a five-man group, while you''ll be tasked with searching for the other mages who might be interested in the base. Every night, we''ll regather here and share our findings. If you ever get into trouble, you can let us know by tearing this scroll," Sannah said and gave Evin a piece of paper.

 Chapter 267: Protocols

    Chapter 267: Protocols


    Evin put the scroll in a safe and easily essible ce, which was of course, his shadow.


    "For the time being, I''ve nothing else to tell you. Ertu will exin how the rest of the team will operate in our search, and you can start thinking of a way to best search for the foreign teams. After you make your decision, you can report it to either me or Dzuko. As long as we don''t see anything too bizarre in your decision, we''ll let you enjoy your free rein. Obviously, I might ask you to do some things for us, but other than that you''re mostly free to do whatever you want in the interests of the mission."


    "Thank you for your generosity," Evin replied, but inwardly, he was more impressed at Nasst''s authority.


    ''The old man''s words must hold a pretty hefty weight, judging from how they''re treating me. Well, I guess it''s natural, considering these guys are his subordinates''


    "In any case, that''s all from me for the official matters. I''ll leave you with Ertu for now so you can get familiar with our modus operandi. And after you''re finished,e see me in my room over there," Sannah said and walked into one of the rooms inside the temporary base.


    [She really doesn''t feel like an olddy. Only her face says she''s maybe 40 years old, but everything else doesn''t really match up to her age,] Runamented in Evin''s head.


    [Hail magic,] Evin replied.


    "I''ll also retire for the time being. We won''t really have much to do before Dzukoes back anyway," Bull said and walked off with a wave of his hand.


    Evin looked to the remaining woman and found her with a distinctly neutral expression on her face. It was definitely better than seeing her with a face of pure worry and heart-rend, as if she was being forced to watch her 10-year-old boy go to war or something.


    "I don''t wish to waste your time with unnecessary talk, and I don''t want to keep the captain waiting, so I''ll try to keep things as simple as possible," Ertu said quickly, "In a mission where we have to search for items, in most normal teams, the team will split into two-person groups and scour the area with whatever method they can use on hand. But for us, it''s a bit different."


    "In our team, usually Dzuko spearheads search missions thanks to his exceptional use of the World of Storms. The rest of the team will simply follow him around to protect him from harm. Since he exined his spell to us in great detail, I''m assuming he won''t mind if I tell you about it as well. To put it in ayman''s terms, he will create shockwave of air that''s very thinly filled with his intent and mana. The shockwave will spread to an area of up to a kilometer around him and make contact with everything inside."


    ''A radar?'' Evin thought, hearing the description.


    "He then collects all this information into his head and creates a very detailed map of the area inside his head. An incredibly powerful ability that''s envied by every other team in the Paradra Tribe. But obviously, it isn''t without shorings. The biggest one being that he''s very vulnerable in this state, as he just doesn''t have the leisure to focus on other things. After all, he has to reconstruct the information he receives from his spell into something coherent and understandable. Hence, the need for us to guard him as he does his job," Ertu exined.


    "That''s extremely impressive. I was thinking if I could do the same, but I''m pretty sure I''ll struggle with simply defining the shape and interior of this base here. To think that Dzuko would be able to reconstruct the shape of an entirendscape using the echoes thate from it is quite honestly baffling to me," Evin replied.


    "Naturally," Ertu replied happily.


    Evin really wasn''t saying some empty praise. Mapping a three-dimensionalndscape through what was basically echolocation without the bounce back wasn''t something so easy and simple as just seeing the terrain with your own eyes.


    Evin was very familiar with this concept thanks to his experience with the array of totems. But the reason he could so easily see the structure of the kilometer wide cube in that case, was because the information was basically shoved into his head due to the grand spell''s effects. It wasn''t like he had to derive some kind of cohesive image from a set of random data. The cohesive image was already there.


    And from what Evin could hear, Dzuko did that same exact practically impossible thing. The earth equivalent of this ability was called terrain mapping through radars and it usually involved powerfulputers equipped with specialized programs to derive meaning from the data collected.


    Evin obviously wasn''t equipped with such high-tech programs in his head, so he could very easily smash his hidden hopes to try, and recreate Dzuko''s skills. Obviously, he had his Dark Room to give him some form of information control over an area, but its range was abysmalpared to the kilometer wide area that Dzuko could cover.


    ''From this, I can also deduce that Dzuko''s very talented at frugally using his mana,'' Evin concluded in his head.


    "As for you, well, even though captain had told you that you''re mostly free to do whatever you want, I can exin how the Paradra instructs its lone agents to work on simr cases," Ertu continued and started listing some examples to Evin.


    Evin heard the examples and realized that most of these solo mission protocols were what he would expect from a single person team that''s trying to search for another group of mages and maybe even others.


    Stalking, observing, and following notably suspicious individuals and groups. Not because these people could be the foreign spies, but because these people might be being stalked by foreign spies. After all, it was hard to imagine highly trained foreigners toe into a town of about maybe 1000 people and try to blend in. They were more likely to have created a temporary base in a nearby area, or some of them could even be in possessions of personal dimensions. They would search for the base during daytime and when they needed to rest, they would coop up inside their dimensions.


    But aside from the specific actions, one theme started to strike out to Evin.


    Every one of these methodologies of doing detective work upheld the mage''s safety first and foremost. The Paradra discouraged any reckless and unsafe approaches to missions, they outright banned its members from sacrificing themselves for any kind of cause, and the most important thing that was encouraged by the tribe was the process of nning ahead. It was so coddling it was actually starting to have the opposite effect on Evin.


    [Now I just want to go berserker style and get this thing over with.]


    [No! Why would you even say that? We''ve just finished listening to a 10 minute talk about keeping oneself safe!] Runa protested.


    [Your big brother''s dumb like that, don''t worry about it.]


    "One more thing I have to tell you is the limitations of your Oath," Ertu began talking about another topic, "As you know, we''re not allowed to hurt non-mage citizens in any way, but for missions like these it''s okay for you to get a bit rough for citizens that you feel are suspicious. You can''t kill them, of course, but just remember this. As for Hornbearers, you can do anything to them. After all, there have been many cases of citizens being bribed by other countries, especially in non-Tribe affiliated cities."


    "Alright."


    "If you don''t have any questions, you can leave for now and visit the captain," Ertu finished her talk and urged Evin to go visit Sannah.


    Evin thanked the youngdy, walked over to Sannah''s room, and knocked on the door. He then heard the old woman''s inviting tone and entered. He saw Sannah sitting behind a simple desk, casually drinking from a fancily decorated tea set.

 Chapter 268: A small game

    Chapter 268: A small game


    She had taken off her dark-brown armor and was wearing a more feminine take on the traditional Northern clothing for men. This traditional northern clothing, being a mix of once simple ankle-long one-piece dress, which would be decorated with colorful essories or jewelry in the case of women, or would be enriched with beautiful needlework in the case of men. The men''s clothes were usually more baggy to showcase theirrger bodies, while the women''s clothing were a bit tighter to show off their curves and alluring shapes.


    Sannah, on the other hand, was wearing a tightly fitting blue dress, which had pale-blue clouds sewn onto it, with no sign of essories and jewelry on her body.


    She offered Evin a seat and started pouring him a drink from her set. Green tea from what Evin could see. Sadly, Evin wasn''t a big enthusiast on teas so he couldn''t quite derive the same pleasure that he would from a cup of coffee. In fact, this act actually reminded him to go and make a cup of coffee for himself.


    ''But it''s probably best not to act like a bitch about it. Especially with your new boss.''


    "Thank you for the tea," Evin said simply.


    "It''s still so weird when I see your childish face make such difficult expressions," Sannah said with a chuckle.


    "Well, I''m trying my best to grow out it all," Evin replied.


    Of course, Evin still looked like a child in the eyes of others, so it was natural he would evoke certain unexinable feelings in others. He reckoned it was the same feeling of unease as moving dolls, or possessed children in movies gave off.


    ''It''s actually quite surprising that the topic is only being brought out now,'' Evin was almost certain that the team had agreed to not mention Evin''s age beforehand.


    "Well, it probably affects me more, as I''m a mother and a grandmother myself. I''m actually waiting to be a great-grandmother currently," Sannah said happily.


    "Congrattions," Evin said with a smile, "How many children do you have now?"


    "Only five. Unfortunately, my husband passed away in my youth, and I haven''t been able to move past him since."


    "I''m sorry to hear that," Evin said, hoping he sounded sincere enough.


    "It''s alright. I''ve had enough time to mourn. I''m a bit curious, have you ever had children? Before all this, of course," Sannah asked curiously.


    Naturally, Evin was the guardian godfather of a few children that came from the people he stalked. Without their knowing, of course, but it was probably best to not speak of those things.


    "Sadly no. I''ve walked a rather lonely path before this, to say the least, but I''d rather you don''t worry about my little adventure. It''s a bit embarrassing, after all," Evin said wryly.


    "Really? I wanted to know if a Child of the Empress ever got the urge to revisit their old children and families if they were allowed to. Felt like a nice to topic to discuss," Sannah said with a light frown.


    "Well, since I sometimes wish to revisit my old ce of birth, I''m sure I''ll want to visit my kids if I ever got one," Evinughed.


    The two talked about pointless and random topics, slowly getting to know each other. Evin quickly found out that Sannah was probably one of the simplest people he ever met. The way she disappointedly narrated stories about her children, the way she lovingly described her grandchildren, none of these traits seemed to suggest that Sannah was a powerful lesser-imposer elite of the Paradra Tribe, feared and respected by countless mages in the world.


    After the two started to befortable and casual with each other, Sannah started to exin her intentions a bit more.


    "He-he, usually, most of the half-cores I meet are almost always scared witless of me. Which is why I have to spend some time talking to them to make them understand that I don''t really belong on the pedestal that they put me on," Sannah exined, "It''s very pleasing to meet someone who doesn''t act in such a way."


    "Well, it''s probably because I spend so much time with Nasst. I mean I know that the man''s a super-imposer, but I rarely ever feel that way," Evin exined with a shrug.


    "I suppose you''re right. We, humanoids, are considered quite the adaptable creatures. But I still have one more thing to teach you. Sure, personality-wise, us lesser-imposers are usually nothing too special. But there''s still a reason why many others fear and respect us."


    "Your strength."


    "Exactly. But, as you probably know, everything mysterious starts to lose its mour if it''s understood more clearly. Usually, I would do a few sparring matches between us to get you used to the power of lesser-imposers, but sadly, we have nowhere secure to have such fights. After all, we don''t really know if there''s anyone out there listening and searching for us," Sannah said in a regretful tone, "But it wouldn''t hurt for us to match our wits in a much easier and simpler contest of magic."


    Evin intently listened to Sannah describe the rules of the game they were about to y.


    "Since you''re a Dark World user, you''ll be trying to have a sliver of your shadow ovee connect with my feet," Sannah said as she pointed at her legs, "I, on the other hand, will be trying my best to prevent you from doing so, by using my World Domain."


    "Seems simple enough," Evinmented, "Though I don''t really know how I''m going to bypass your defenses if you decide to turtle up."


    "Of course, we will both have to abide by some specific rules," Sannah said and created a circle around her feet. It wasn''t anything tooplicated, just a thick line of blood red surrounding the woman.


    ''Is that her World Domain? Must be from the World of Emotions, judging by its unique color,'' Evin thought, as he curiously inspected the line.


    The line then split into two equal parts turning into a half circle around Sannah.


    "I can only cover half the area around me with a World Domain, and you can only attack me from half the area around me as well," Sannah exined.


    "I don''t feel very confident in my ability to fine control my shadows to make sure it''s always surrounding half the circle around you," Evin concluded after hearing his task.


    "Don''t worry about that. I''ll make it so that you won''t have to focus so much on the smaller details," Sannah said and started drawing a collection of runes under her feet.


    "With this, the your spell will work ording to the rules of the game. Try surrounding me with our Dark Room," Sannah then instructed.

 Chapter 269: Epic battle

    Chapter 269: Epic battle


    Evin did as instructed and soon found out that he could only cover half the area around the woman with his Dark Room. No matter how hard he tried to bypass this limit, he was unable to ovee it. Even if he decided to split his spell into smaller bits, the area he could cover remained the same. The feeling he got from this situation was very off-putting as well.


    ''I don''t feel that there''s something physical preventing me from creating a bigger Dark Zone. There''s a simpler exnation for it all. If I had to make a wild guess, it''s almost as if I''m the one preventing myself from casting my spell in a specific way.'' Evin started to suspect.


    It waspletely possible for the woman to have affected Evin with a spell of some sorts without his knowledge. After all, she was a Master of the World of Emotions. Who knew what kind of methods she had under her sleeves? And it wasn''t like Evin could 100% see what the woman did, since they two of them had eaten the World Chameleon skins to hide their energy colors.


    ''But even so, I should''ve felt something, right? Even if the spell is invisible, I feel that there should be something that I could''ve done to prevent this from happening'' Evin fell into thought, as he continued to casually swing about his Dark Room.


    Feeling a bit cheeky, Evin decided to pull a little sneaky on the old woman and seriously tried to let his spell reach the woman''s feet in the pretense that he was trying out things. He suddenly burst with intent and tried to bypass the woman''s World Domain with a blitz attack.


    Unfortunately, Sannah seemed to have expected the attack as she skillfully allocated the World Domain under her control to block off Evin''s spell. And when the two forces collided with each other, Evin''s spell would promptly disappear, forcing Evin to refill the area with his Dark Room.


    "How are you doing this?" Evin couldn''t help but ask afterwards.


    Sannah was either keeping up two spells in perfect sync, which was honestly a shocking disy of her control of magic, or she was using some trick to keep things bnced. Evin was obviously inclined to think that it was thetter case.


    "It''s a small trick of mine, but you don''t have to worry about it so much," Sannah replied smilingly, "Besides, don''t you have something else to do right now?"


    Stilling his curiosity, Evin started to control his Dark Room and started attacking Sannah''s defenses.


    An epic two-dimensional battle of unprecedented scaled urred between two forces: The Blood Wall and the Endless Darkness. A never-ending swarm of Darkness was trying everything in its powers to slip past the wall of blood, which in turn, was dutifully thwarting the invader''s efforts to reach the ultimate goal The Feet.


    The forces of Darkness were innumerable, infinite even, but the Blood Wall had many things going in its favor. Its body was so powerful and destructive that no troop of the invading Darkness could even survive getting into contact with it. Even if the forces of Darkness thickened itself to its limits, it could not prevent itself from cheating death at the hands of the Blood Wall.


    It was also much faster than the opposing force. Even if the Darkness moved through the battlefield in a matter of seconds, the Blood Wall''s movements made it seem like the Darkness was but a growing toddler before its speed.


    But, the Darkness was relentless, even if all of their forces were being destroyed again and again, they were willing to throw themselves into death if it meant that at least one of them could reach The Feet.


    There were some instances where the Darkness managed to slip past the Blood wall, but the wall wasn''t just a thin, oneyer defense. The Blood wall was thick, even if parts of the darkness managed to slip past its sides, it would rapidly start spinning around The Feet in one direction, acting as a meatgrinder of death.


    An enormous amount of Darkness was lost to this trick of the blood wall. But say one thing about the forces of the Dark, say they were interminable. No matter the losses they suffered, they would be back the next moment, refreshed and ready.


    The Darkness would try to match the Wall''s revolution speed to bypass the defenses by syncing up with its enemy, but who was to say that the Blood Wall could only spin in one direction. Only death awaited the Darkness in its path towards The Feet.


    The battle continued and while one might think that the forces of Darkness were at their wit''s end, it really didn''t look as much. The leader of said force of Darkness, Eviendra the Wise Drake, was looking at the battlefield with an expression of calmness. No matter the losses he rued, not even a hint of a wince appeared in his eyes.


    Even after he tried different methods and failed, The Wise Drake didn''t look dejected, he only looked at the deadly battlefield and nodded ever so slightly, as if he expected these dreadful results from the very beginning.


    What was he nning? Was there any meaning to this endless ughter of his own troops? Or was he waiting for something else?


    Once again, the forces of Darkness gathered at the edge of the Blood Wall. But this time, there was something different about them all. They were surely hiding a nasty surprise for the Blood Wall.


    With amand from the Wise Drake, the forces of Darkness dashed towards the wall, zigzagging around in an almost exaggerated manner. The Blood Wall also started to spin in one direction, turning into the familiar machine of Death.


    But just before the two forces met, suddenly, the forces of Darkness grow infinitely taller than before, breaking the naturalws of this two-dimensional battlefield. The Blood Wall was taken by surprise, but it too started to grow upward, trying to match the growth of the Dark forces. A race to the skies suddenly unfolded between the two forces. But who was to be the winner in the end? Will the Blood Wall sessfully repel the forces of darkness away from The Feet, or was the Darkness finally about to reach its bloody goal once and for all?


    Unfortunately, the Blood Wall was simply too fast. Even with the lead the Darkness gained with its sudden surprise, it was in the end, ovee by the wall of red. It seemed that the Darkness was never destined to reach its goal The Feet.


    Eviendra the Wise Drake, looked at the battlefield with his uncanny calmness, and cleared his throat, no doubt preparing to dere his defeat.


    "It''s my victory."


    Huh? What''s this? You mean to say that he has already reached his goal? But What happened? Is the Feet safe? Were they already defiled by the Darkness? Find out, in the next episode of ********** Z.

 Chapter 270: The town of Saar.

    Chapter 270: The town of Saar.


    Sannah casually lifted her leg from the ground and looked at her sole. To her surprise, it was covered in a thinyer of Darkness, a clear indication of Evin''s victory, despite the World Domain standing in front of her. Pondering a bit, she realized what Evin did.


    "Ah, I didn''t expect for your spell to go underground. Well, coupled with your sudden decision of making your darkness taller, it''s a strong enough two pronged attack. It would be difficult for me to counter that," Sannahughed and dispelled her World Domain.


    "I''ve had lots of fun as well."


    [Well, epic narration aside, it was a pretty fun game to y,] Evin thought in his head.


    [You looked like you were having so much fun, you looked like Mother and Rith when they''re bullying you,] Runa said.


    "Well, I hope you learned something about World Domains today," Sannah said and sat down on her seat.


    Evin thought about the prior exercise and summarized his conclusion.


    "The World Domains are just simple spells, but what makes it special is that it''s a very reliable one as it is one of the Absolutes. Probably the first proper Absolute that a mage will be acquainted with."


    "Exactly so. For lesser-imposers like us, who need to be frugal with our Domain usage, it''s the most reliable and adaptable and changeable weapon on our hands. It can be a shield to protect us from foreign forces like now, or it can be a sword or a spear that can disrupt the enemy''s spells."


    "What should I do when I''m the one being attacked by a World Domain?" Evin asked.


    "Run away, hide. Do your best to avoid being locked down in a fight against a lesser-imposer. Especially if it''s a one on one. You might have a chance if thetter doesn''t know where you''re hiding, but if your enemy can see you, then you should be mentally prepared to fight as a non-mage."


    Evin had experienced this feeling before, so he was definitely going to take this advice to heart.


    "This is actually why all elite teams have to have at least one lesser-imposer in its ranks," Sannah said, holding her hand to her chest, "Our only job is to lock down and neutralize the enemy lesser-imposer''s World Domain. I''ll most likely be busy fighting the World Domain of the enemy, or if it''s a sensible opponent, we''ll probably just be watching over the fight casually. After all, the actual oue of the fight will actually decided by the rest of the team. And who''s to decide the importance of a random outsider in the bnce of these fights?"


    The olddy''s words were simple, but there was a very important message in it. She was saying that Evin''s role in the team was much more important than what Evin was most likely feeling currently.


    After all, right after Evin got into the team, Sannah had denied his potential cooperation with the rest and told him to act solo. Evin obviously didn''t mind, but someone else might think they were being bullied or something.


    "Thank you, for exining all this to me," Evin said.


    "No sweat off my back. I''ve enjoyed myself quite a bit too," Sannah replied, "Also, do you have any ideas about what you''re going to do to sniff out the other mages?"


    "Nothing for now. Guess I''ll go around town getting a feel for things for now. And if I can''t achieve anything substantial during it, I might even opt to stalk everyone entering and leaving town one by one."


    It was still daytime, so Evin could get a few things done during that time.


    "A bit uninspiring, but honestly, I like it. Simple is best, even if it''s a bit dumb. Anyway, after you''re finished today, make sure to report your progress to me afterwards. As for us, we''ll stay here for a bit and wait for Dzuko. Call it a one day paid leave. Besides, the man should meet up with us today evening, if nothing out of the ordinary happens."


    Evin saluted Sannah and walked out of the room. He headed for his room for a bit, to get a feel for how it looked.


    ''Actually, I''ll probably just sleep in my shadow,'' he decided after taking a nce.


    [Finally, we''re going on a proper mission now!] Runa said excitedly.


    [I''m sorry to disappoint, but you''re probably going to get bored of it very quickly.]


    [No, I won''t!]


    [Well, it certainly would be great for me if you don''t, since I''ll have somepany while doing something boring.]


    [I''m telling you I won''t!] the skinshifter retorted quickly, to which Evin only answered with a casual "Sure".


    An hourter, Evin was sitting under the shades of the tallest watchtower in the town of Saar, nodding slightly to himself. He held a piece of paper, one with a highly messily depicted drawing on top of it, and stared at it with a scrutinizing gaze.


    ''The map''s a bit scuffed, but it''ll do after I go around the streets and finish it. I don''t have to map the surrounding area, as it''s Dzuko''s job so I guess I''ll go finish it and thene back to think on what to do next'' he decided.


    He transformed his shadow to the Dark Room, and the next moment he fell into his spell. Latching onto the darker shades of the walls, Evin climbed down from the building. Then, he started to move around the town in a simr manner, every so often getting out of his spell to add some details to his map. After he was done, he would get back into his spell and navigate the town while sliding over the walls.


    He quickly learned to avoid the ground itself, as it asionally had some very foul-smelling items lying around. Even if his shadow form was as magical as it was untouchable (usually), Evin didn''t want to get any closer to the things if he could help it.


    And he didn''t wish to cover himself with illusions, as that would be much more noticeable than a slightly darker spot on a wall. Even Dark Mages with their natural affinity to darkness would find it hard to see Evin, as his Dark Room was a very high-tier spell, ording to Kyune. With it, Evin could feel assured of his safety.


    In any case, the town of Saar.


    Saar was a fairlyrge town, which was maybe a bit smaller than a square kilometer in size. Evin didn''t know how many people lived in it, but he reckoned it had about 700-900 people living in it.


    As for the surrounding area, the town had a neighboring big forest on one side, and a small river running on the other. Evin was sure that the secret base was located in the forest somewhere, so he expected his team to head there tomorrow morning.


    Saar was also a much quieter town than he anticipated, with most of the streets empty of any human presence. Even when Evin looked at everything from above, aside from the asional movement, everything would be still and silent. Naturally, this made Evin''s job much easier, so he wasn''t unhappy. Since there wasn''t also much traction in the area, his n of camping in the city gates was a feasible enough.

 Chapter 271: Illusions and Darkness

    Chapter 271: Illusions and Darkness


    If Evin sat on the watchtower doing nothing in particr for two days except staring down on the people who walked through the town gates, he should be able to find some pretty shady people among them. After all, every team should be equally clueless about the whereabouts of the secret base. Even Evin''s team, who was the elite of the country it was hungry for information.


    And what better ce to search for information than the town right next to it. Even if the non-mages weren''t usually allowed to learn about specifics regarding magic, they could still sometimes witness some things that they weren''t supposed to see. As far as Evin could tell, the surrounding area wasn''t something so dangerous and the forest didn''t look to be some kind of cursed, or haunted one either.


    Although unlikely, it wasn''t impossible for the residents of Saar to have witnessed someone essing the secret base.


    By this logic, the elites of the other countries should be sending someone into the town to gather information. Most likely a pair of mages disguising themselves as simple travelers.


    They could even be walking around covering themselves with a thickyer of illusions, but Evin was sure that no one would be that daring. After all, every elite was sufficiently trained to distinguish the things, especially if they were sitting in one ce doing nothing else.


    It would be fine if they were just having it on as they were traveling, as all less-noticeable illusion discerning spells required some time to work properly.


    For example, the method that Evin liked to use the most was a spell that he could apply to his eyes. It wasn''t anything too fancy, just a passive buff to his eyes that made illusions apparent to his eyes over a certain period of a minute. This meant that if he was looking at a general area that housed one person who was hiding behind and illusion, after one minute, Evin would be able to take notice of it. After that, he could use more specific methods to try and bypass them without alerting the caster.


    But if someone covered in illusions just flew over the area without making any noise, Evin wouldn''t really be able to know it.


    Obviously, there were more powerful and surefire methods to detect illusions. Wide area spells that were used by city guards and military bases. These were designed to detect and locate any illusions inside a set radius and was almost impossible to avoid. But Evin couldn''t use these, as it would make his location known to every mage in the distance of a kilometer. After all, he would need to be throwing around such arge amount of Thought Energy, he would start looking like a lighthouse in the middle of a storm.


    All this made his ability to hide in the Darkness such a big advantage on his side. After all, from what he could see today, most mages opted to use illusions to hide themselves. If they couldn''t do that, they just decided to create a disguise and pretend to be a normal person. No one seemed to be using the Dark World to scurry in the shadows like he was, so most likely, the enemies would be keeping an eye out for illusions and not random shadows.


    ''It''s even better for me, because if I can trust Kyune''s words, then even the other users of the Dark World wouldn''t be able to notice me so easily. On the other hand, I''ll be able to find them much more easily!'' Evin thought happily.


    He then focused on finishing his map and after a while, he was finally done with the task. He sighed and decided to return to the unmanned watchtower.


    Making sure that there wasn''t anyone on the tower, hiding behind a veil of illusions, Evin got out of his Dark Room. Even though he wasn''t hiding inside it, he was still pretty much invisible in the darkness, so it was still rtively safe. He then changed his passive Time Beams to be much thinner and spread it around the area, in spots where he expected a mage to fly through.


    ''Although this would notify a potential enemy of my presence, the Time Beams would heavily disrupt the enemies'' spells and illusions, revealing their faces and also stopping their floating spells from working'' Evin thought.


    If Evin was quick enough, he would be able to seriously hurt these enemies with a sneak attack, but since there was no information other than that there was some random mage flying in the area, Evin was just going to try to memorize the intruder''s face and focus on hiding afterwards. After all, there could be five hidden mages waiting behind the one that got caught in Evin''s trap, and there could even be a lesser-imposer among them. Evin wasn''t really brave enough to try his luck against a World Domain any time soon.


    Although a bit risky, it was necessary to set up these precautions, as this tower was undoubtedly the best vantage point in the city. This meant that the chances of another mage wanting to take control of it was extremely high. It waspletely possible that they would make a beeline for the tower under an illusion, and Evin wouldn''t be able to take notice of them until it was toote.


    Even though it was rtively safe for Evin, since he wasn''t covered in illusions but was hiding in the darkness, it was still a risk that he didn''t want to gamble on.


    ''It would be too awkward if I suddenly find an intruder sitting right next to me, after all,'' Evin thought with a chuckle.


    Anyhow, Evin gotfortable in the shades, activated his eagle-eyes, and silently monitored the four town gates one by one. Nothing really happened, as small town gates weren''t really bustling with activity all day every day. Especially so for a town like this one, which didn''t have a Tribe ruling over it.

 Chapter 272: The flaw in Evins plan

    Chapter 272: The w in Evin''s n


    ''This is quite boring, huh?'' Evin thought idly, ''I wish Runa would''ve kept me somepany, but I guess she would''ve gotten bored eventually and left me for the World Sprites Sigh.''


    The skinshifter ditched Evin 30 minutes into the mission when he was drawing the map of the town. Runa was already getting bored during this, since Evin wasn''t focused enough to properly reply to the little girl''s endless questions. When Evin mentioned that the following part would be even more boring, Runa decided to enter Evin''s shadow, telling him to call her if there was any fighting to do.


    Thinking of random things, Evin passed the time in silence But a few minutester, Evin suddenly realized something.


    ''Wait, since they could fly, why would they even go through the town gates? They can quickly fly into a random dark corner of the town and dispel their illusions there. Since I can''t see through walls I''d just think that some resident of the town is just leaving their house''


    One problem with the town of Saar was that its buildings were built a tad too close to each other, which made it so that there were many blind spots for mages to hide in. So if a mage decided to navigate the town through those narrow streets, unperturbed by the shit and piss on the ground, it would be very hard for Evin to take notice of them.


    ''Should I just make it rain on the town and see if there''s any spot in the sky that''s oddly deflecting the water?''


    It was a good idea, but Evin''s core capacity wasn''t big enough to sustain such a spell for long. At most, he could gather a sphere of water for a bit before making it explode over the town. But that was much too shy, so he could only think of something else.


    In his opinion, even the fact that he was sitting on the tallest building in town was much too daring forfort.


    ''Mages don''t really have to walk through the city gates, but the purpose of their visit remains the same  to gather information. The most likely ce to find the relevant information would be the ce where mages gather, but as far as I know, there isn''t such a ce here.''


    Evin asked Ertu about this before and learned that practically all mages flocked to the Tribes to get better education. This was mostly due to Kal''s policies to relocate the poption to better designed cities.


    Before Kal started ruling over the North, the country was a lot less organized than it was before. Originally, the Northerners lived a very traditional and nomadic lifestyle, herding sheep throughout the ins and deer throughout the forests. Like migratory birds, they would search for a warmer spot to stay in winter time, like under the cover of mountains where the cold winds couldn''t affect them as much. And when summer came, they would search for a cooler spot to stay in, ce close to rivers andkes, for example.


    After that St took over and the situation in the North started to undergo a lot of big changes. Due to the many wars that urred during those times, countless new towns and cities started to be built. Perhaps because they weren''t used to such a lifestyle, many towns were built with ring ws like Saar here, where the buildings were built practically right next to each other.


    St being St, didn''t really care about these problems that much. He was much more interested in shooting for the level of Authorities at the time.


    Kal took over afterwards, saw these towns and decided to do something about it. He made it so that all Tribes could only be located in towns meeting certain standards that the Paradra set and if they couldn''t find a suitable town or city, they had to build one themselves. The Paradra also expressed their willingness to help out with the resources if the new town''s design met the proper standards.


    If some ruler dered the same back on Earth, his people would''ve probably rebelled, but the Northerners didn''t really mind that much. They had mages and magicians all over the ce so it wasn''t that hard to build a town or two since they had the resources. Probably, the more ambitious Tribe leaders even saw it as a chance to solidify their rule. After all, not everyone had the privilege to build a new city.


    As for how these new towns would help the problem of the old ones being bad? Well, Kal thought that the residents of these old towns saw the new towns being built, they would sooner orter start moving to them. After all, all the mages were living in the new towns and usually, mages were the catalysts of progression and good life.


    But, Kal had underestimated the stubbornness of people. Everyone was stilling living in the shitty towns of past, unwilling to mingle with the mages and citizens of the newer cities. Apparently, Kal had no problems about freely bullying the Tribes but he was weirdly adamant about not forcing the non-mages to do anything. Evin guessed that it had something to do with the Oath, but Ertu denied it. She exined that it most likely had to do with the super-imposer''s principles.


    Long story short, team Eleven was probably the only Northern force in the town of Saar. There were probably a few odd mages living in the town, but Evin didn''t really know where to find them.


    ''Maybe I can ask Ertu when I have the time'' Evin thought, ''In any case, since there isn''t a prevalent Tribe here, the foreign elites can only search for information in crowded ces which would be themon room in an inn, or a[SA1] tavern of some sorts.''


    During his quick trip through the town, Evin saw two taverns and three inns. If he observed the entrances to these five buildings, then perhaps he would be able to see the type of people he wanted to.


    ''Okay, this one seems like a better idea,'' Evin decided and switched from staring at the gates to looking at the entrances to the taverns and inns.

 Chapter 273: A scam in progress

    Chapter 273: A scam in progress


    Not many people appeared in the taverns and the inns, as it was still the afternoon. But Evin soon noticed that apletely different building was attracting much more trafficpared to the other ces.


    His curiosity piqued, Evin slithered over to see what was going on and found that the building was a drugstore of some sorts. A rough looking man with a pink horn was sitting behind a row of what seemed to be a piece of colored tree bark held together by a string.


    "Get your own Strand of the Avatar! One Strand and you''ll get a chance to develop a magic granting horn by yourselves!" the man behind was shouting.


    ''Well, this is most definitely a scam, but who''s this Avatar?'' Evin thought curiously, as he looked around the gathered crowd. Evin hoped to see some people who might be scouting for information, but unfortunately, he couldn''t really see anyone suspicious. Most of them seemed to be normal people who were looking at the man with suspicion and doubt.


    And of course, there were some who seemed genuinely interested by the idea. The seller skillfully took notice of the people and started to focus on them.


    He picked one of the Strands and held it in front of one such person, a well-dressed boy of about 10 years, who looked at the seller''s pink horn with envy and desire. It was obvious that the boy was still discontent about the results of the Horn Ceremony he participated.


    "You want to have a horn just like mine? I got these horns after consuming these Strands. And some might even say that it''s fake, but I can prove it to you. Observe," the man said and pulled out a small knife from somewhere.


    He held the knife to his hand and swiftly sliced. Blood dripped on the floor and Evin could see the man take on a pink hue for a second before healing the wound he''d just inflicted on himself.


    "Only 40 silver and you''ll get a chance to develop your own horn. Maybe you can even grow two of them! Even three isn''t impossible," the man said gleefully, happy he found a random kid to scam, "Who knows? Maybe you''ll be one of those special people who will grow Twelve different magical horns like the Avatar himself! At that point, you''ll be no different than those fancy mages!"


    Evin was d he managed to hear something about the Avatar. From what the man said, Evin could infer that the Avatar was an Ivari who had 12 horns on their heads, one for each world.


    ''Now that I think about it, why don''t the Ivari put more than one horn on top of their heads? The things are artificial anyway, so I don''t think it''s impossible to do so'' Evin thought idly, before reaching a conclusion, ''No, I''m sure they tried to do it, but the effects probably didn''t match what they expected.''


    Evin then focused on the seller and the boy.


    "But remember, if you don''t believe in its powers, you won''t be able to receive its magic. Some non-believers would consume the Strand with a cynical mindset and expect the Avatar''s grace to fall upon them. But you know what? They''ll never develop the horn themselves. They''ll go through the pain, but they won''t get the prize," the man said and looked dead straight into the boy''s eyes, "Honestly, I can see it in your eyes too. The doubt and the disbelief."


    The boy looked panicked, as the child was unable to match the stare of an adult. But his eyes still managed to steal a nce at the man''s horn, no doubt thinking of the possibilities. But at this point, someone else interrupted the conversation.


    "Oh, piss off, Luiev. Get a real job already! Anything that stops you from screaming bullshit next to my window!"


    Evin looked over and saw a man peeking out of his window with his naked belly on disy, savoringly eating a berry of some kind.


    "Don''t listen to that man, boy. The man has had his horn since he was seven years old, just like all the other Hornbearers in the North. Unfortunately, he couldn''t quite get the silver horn of wisdom, so he needs to resort to these dumb schemes to feed himself," the man from the windowughed.


    Luiev snorted dismissively at the man and turned to the boy, "Don''t listen to a word he says. He bought a Strand from me before and couldn''t quite grow a horn for himself. Since then, he decided to spend his miserable days sabotaging my work."


    "Ha-ha-ha, I''m sabotaging your work? Tell you what, if you picked a different ce to conduct your scams, I wouldn''t even fucking care. Some people need to experience getting scammed to learn to steer away from people like you. But it''s painful to hear you shouting out your stupid stories in the background. I can already feel the slimy stuff in my head rotting because of you," the manughed and said to the crowd, "I suggest y''all to spend your time in a more productive manner. Don''t give this idiot any more attention than he deserves."


    "I only came here two years ago, you liar! Ask anyone in town and they''ll tell you the same thing!" Luiev said to the crowd.


    But with two sides'' statements contradicting each other''s the crowd had to make a choice between the two sides. Eventueally, everyone seemed to unanimously agree with the naked man''s judgement, as people started to disperse from the edges. The boy still looked conflicted as with his decisions, but he seemed to still his heart and he soon went away.


    Evin wanted to ask Luiev about the Avatar, but he didn''t want to reveal himself so he decided not to. But he still stayed around the drugstore, since he hoped that the man would start preaching about the Avatar himself.


    ''I''ll wait around for half an hour and if he doesn''t talk any further, I guess I''ll take my leave.''


    Thirty minutes passed and although Luiev wasn''t garnering as much attention as before, he still managed to sell his magical tree bark to some nave young fellows. Unfortunately for Evin, aside from the times he chanted the Avatar''s name, Luiev really didn''t speak in detail about this myth of his.


    ''Guess I''ll go back to stalking the tavern doors. Since it''s getting dark, they should be getting more traction as well,'' Evin thought, ''Guess I can choose the more popr one and sit inside it.''


    But just as he was about to slither out through his shadow, a bulky man who had covered his face with a scarf of some sorts approached the drugstore.


    "Hey, there, big man. You interested in a Strand of the Avatar?" Luiev immediately noticed a potential customer.


    The man seemed to eye Luiev with some wariness before speaking in a forcefully deep voice, "I''ll buy two of your stuff if you tell me about this Avatar of yours."


    Evin immediately sunk deeper into the shadows after hearing the statement, his eyes glinting with excitement.


    ''Bingo!  Probably.''

 Chapter 274: The Avatar

    Chapter 274: The Avatar


    Luiev eyed the man as if he was a walking bag of coins and smilingly replied.


    "Of course, but as sir might know, information doesn''te cheap," the pink horned man said and pointed at the Strands, "These these are but products of the Avatar''s knowledge. The lore behind them will cost you a bit more."


    "Don''t push your luck. Either tell me what I want to know and take this gold coin, or don''t. Stop wasting my time," the man grunted out threateningly at Luiev''s attempt to extort him.


    "Sir, don''t be so prone to threats. I was just about to say that the knowledge costs a gold coin only. I''ll even add a Strand as a bonus for you and you only. But sir, you are a mage, right? I can''t quite tell you about these things if you''re not," Luiev smiled.


    The man held out his palm in front of him and pieces of sand started to appear on it. Luiev nodded smilingly and invited the man to enter his drugstore. Evin followed behind them soon after. Luiev then promptly started to recount an old tale which he had obviously told many times in the past.


    "As sir might know, the Avatar is depicted as a powerful Hornbearer who possesses the Twelve Horns of Magic atop his head. And not just any old horns, like this one," Luiev said, pointing at his own, "The horns that are directly connected with the Worlds of Magic themselves. A domain usually only essible to the Empress and the Authorities."


    "And what does that mean?" the bulky man asked.


    "This means that the amount of mana the Avatar can pull from the Worlds is practically endless. He is literally a Blessed of all the Twelve Worlds, regardless of the Authorities'' wishes. In the legends, the Avatar''s power was to take anything and everything he desired from the World, so naturally, it isn''t that weird of him to freely take the energies of the Magic Worlds. It also ties to his origin stories as well."


    "Go on."


    "In his origin stories, it is said that the Avatar was one of the first people who ever received our primogenitor St''s blessing of the Horn. St, who had been a simple super-imposer at the time, had granted the Avatar the horns of the World of Thoughts and the World of Emotions, giving him a task to better understand the nature of humans."


    "The Avatar was enthralled with this gift at first. You see, the Avatar wasn''t a very, precise user of the Worlds, but that didn''t mean he was someone talentless. He simply didn''t like to bother himself with the small details. He had many grand ideas in his head, but couldn''t quite achieve them due to his inability to focus on the small things. St had obviously noticed this trait of the Avatar and decided to give thetter the means to achieve his grand aspirations."


    "And after the Avatar received the horns, he could finally solve this problem, as the horns granted him unparalleled fine-control of World energies. But it wasn''t enough. The aspirations of the Avatar wasn''t able to be satisfied with two Worlds, he needed more. After he got a taste of what the horns could do, he wanted ess to all the Worlds of Magic!"


    "He confronted St regarding this idea of his, but the super-imposer refused to grant his wish, saying that any horn after the second would be more than enough to destroy his mind. The Avatar was furious, he felt that the super-imposer was simply denying his powers because, afraid of the Avatar''s potential. Thus, he decided to study the secrets of the Horns himself."


    "Some timeter, the Avatar reappeared in the World, a majestic twin horn on his head, which possessed twelve different branches, all differently colored with a unique World of Magic. Not only that, he was sessful in taking many times more World energies than what his mana-core allowed, turning him into one of the most powerful mages alive at the time. No one knew how he was able to achieve them, but at the same time, everyone was able to see that the Avatar''s ims were true."


    "Wait, if he''s so powerful and famous, there should be something about his story in history books, right?" the man interrupted.


    Luiev smiled and started to exin, "We''ll get there soon. Anyhow, the Avatar soon decided to wage war against St''s rule, promising anyone who sided with him infinite ess to one World of Magic. Naturally, many mages started to flock to him and receive the benefits that the Avatar promised. Coincidentally, the Avatar was plotting his insurgency in this very town you now stand in. But anyway, things were starting to look bad for St, who had no proper way to deal with the sudden threat but very soon, tragedy struck the Avatar."


    "His wanton disy of his magnificent 12-pronged horn had garnered the attention of the one woman standing high above us, the Empress. With her unfathomable powers, she very swiftly made the Avatar and his little troupe tomit suicide by having thempletely destroy their bodies," Luiev said, a weirdly nostalgic look to his face, "A very simr incident to the Tragedy of Dragonshifters."


    "The Empress then had St destroy any evidence of the event happening, wiping out the event from the face of Alvox. St had obviously did his best, but as you can see, stories and legends can never be fully smothered," Luiev finished his story with a sigh.


    The man who was listening fell into thought and as did Evin.


    ''Weird how I finally learn about who a World''s Blessed is in a random story in a drugstore,'' Evin thought. Luiev''s story was rich with details and history and Evin really enjoyed listening to it. The only problem was, that it was probably all bullshit.


    The story was inconsistent and unbelievable in general, but Evin could see how some people might find it attractive. And one such group of people could be the original creators of a certain hidden base that so many people were trying to find.


    Shady myths, an overpowered body modification, infinite energy and mysterious organizations with their secret bases. If Evin thought about it logically, all the elements of a B-tier secret agent story were there. Who was to say that these things couldn''t happen in reality?


    Evin was all for this plotline, but the bulky man, on the other hand, seemed unimpressed.


    "A neat little story, but there are too many details in it that I can''t just take at face value," the man said and prepared to leave.


    "Take it as you well. No hair off my back," Luiev smiled mysteriously.


    ''Now that I think about it, this dude''s been acting really differently from how he did when he was searching for delusional teens to scam'' Evin thought, observing the Hornbearer more closely.


    But, since the only lead Evin had to find the other elite groups was leaving, Evin decided to maybe give Luiev another visit in the future and followed behind the bulky man. Though Evin did manage to bring out a golden coin from his shadows, putting it on the drugstore''s counter as a little parting gift.


    After the guests went out of the store, Luiev casually sat on the seat behind his counter and picked the golden coin that Evin left.


    "At least the boy''s got some respect..." he chuckled as he yed around with the coin.

 Chapter 275: The dangers of stalking

    Chapter 275: The dangers of stalking


    Evin, naturally, was oblivious to what just happened in the store after he left. Instead, he diligently followed behind the bulky man, keeping his presence inside the Darkness. Thankfully, the bulky man seemed to prefer the darker streets of the town as well, making Evin''s job a lot much easier.


    Eventually, the man reached a small empty alley located in the less fortunate parts of the town of Saar and stopped. He then took out a cigar from a Storage ring and casually lighted it near his face.


    ''Did he notice me? No, it doesn''t seem like it'' Evin wondered and started looking around the alley, trying to learn what was so special about this ce.


    A minuteter his eyes started to gradually distinguish the silhouette of a woman standing next to the man.


    ''Oh, she was hiding behind an illusion,'' Evin thought.


    He curiously looked at the woman''s features, trying his best to remember her details. She wore clothing that was simr to the man''s but she wasn''t covering her face with anything. Though she was holding a shield on her hands for some reason. But, just as he looked at her head, the woman sharply turned towards his position.


    "There!" the woman urgently said in Imperial, pointing at Evin''s direction. The bulky man turned around and shouted: "Ilekle!"


    Immediately, a beacon of light shaped in the form of a rune appeared atop Evin''s position, shining over Evin''s location in the shadows. It didn''t really hurt Evin, or try to destroy his spell like Evin expected it to, but he definitely knew that there was something bad about it. The woman on the side also started to busy herself with a spell, as a thin white mist appeared around the woman. Evin didn''t really know the spell''s effects aside from a guess that it was probably a defensive method. From the white mist, thin needles of ice appeared around the alley, all of them producing a terribly lethal aura.


    Without hesitation, Evin scurried away from the alleyway, all while hiding inside the safety of his spell. But, before he could get much further, his body inside the Dark Room was suddenly yanked towards the light shining above him. The further he went, the stronger the pull was. Even with him wearing the Ufror''s Cloak around his body, the effects of the spell could not be ignored.


    ''Or maybe it''s because the Cloak''s only good at protecting me from the more directly harmful effects of a Luminous spell?'' Evin managed to think, but his problems remained the same.


    The rune''s effect was apparent - it was something that was designed to keep him in ce and pull him back if he went too far. But that wasn''t all, the pull was also getting stronger over time, threatening to yank out Evin from inside the Dark Room.


    ''Fuck!'' Evin cursed in his mind, and started spreading his spell wider, before it eventually engulfed the whole alley inside it. Evin wanted topletely box in the two inside his spell, by covering over the sky above with the Dark Room, but the woman''s white mist prevented him from having his way. The man also cast another rune-empowered Luminous spell which prevented Evin''s spell from spreading further. At the end of it, Evin was left with a fairly scuffed Dark Room, but at least he got some control over the area.


    Using the territory he found for himself, Evin was trying his best to move away from the ray of light that was trying to expose him. But the thing seemed to have locked onto his position like it had some kind of homing effect, following him around everywhere. Him moving around frantically did help slow down its effects, but Evin knew that he couldn''tst much longer.


    [Runa,e out!] Evin shouted into his dimension and a few momentster, Runa''s voice appeared in his head, alongside Enri.


    [What''s happening?] the two of them asked almost simultaneously, and Evin pointed at the two mages.


    [Enemies! The Luminous spell is trying to pull me out of my shadow!]


    Runa immediatelytched onto Evin''s body, turning into a full body armor and a spear, while Enri also started swimming inside the Darkness alongside Evin. The Luminous spell''s pull didn''t seem to be working on her so that was an unexpected plus.


    Evin also pulled out his soul-tethered spear from inside his Storage ring, and extracted a hefty amount of Soul energy from the orb on it. Evin didn''t n to hold back anything for this fight so he applied the energy to his Dark Room, which made the Dark spell much more taxing on the enemies'' psychology. Evin could feel the effects of soul-burning his spell almost immediately, as the Dark Room felt much more threatening and unfathomablepared to a few seconds ago.


    ''Although I can''t cast any other spell, or physically attack someone from inside the shadows without making myself targetable first, at least I can affect the Dark Room itself.''


    [Runa, we''ll attack at the woman first! The woman will most definitely try to impale me with a bunch of needles at that point, I''ll leave my protection to you,] Evin said, and looked towards Enri, [Enri will attack the male two seconds after we appear. After that, be ready toe back into my shadow so we can run away!]


    Although the two enemies were sitting inside Evin''s Dark Room, they really didn''t seem too perturbed by


    The next moment, Evin made a beeline towards the woman and jumped out of the Dark Room, thrusting the spear part of Runa at the woman with all his strength. Unfortunately, the Luminous spell was following him around all this time, so the woman was obviously prepared for his sudden offensive. She blocked the spear strike with her shield and immediately, she let loose the countless needles of ice in the air towards Evin. Before of course, she was sent flying towards one of the walls in a straight line, due to Evin have made herpletely weightless.


    It was a small victory for Evin, but he couldn''t forget about the needles that the woman sent towards him with the speed of sound. Evin usually wouldn''t feel any threat from needles, but these ones just seemed extremely dangerous to him. Just like he expected, the impact didn''t produce the pleasant clinking sounds of normal needles failing to prate metal. Instead, lots of thudding sounds came simultaneously from around his body, which was then followed by a weird, unsettling noise of something small drilling through metal.


    Evin also heard a rather loud and painful scream from the man''s direction, but Evin couldn''t quite focus on Enri''s situation now, as he had bigger things to worry about.


    Evin really wanted to check if he was impaled by the needles, but since he wasn''t feeling any pain, he guessed that Runa managed to stop them. And besides, there was something else he desperately needed to do.

 Chapter 276: A dangerous fight

    Chapter 276: A dangerous fight


    He burnt some of the soul in his possession and set the Luminous spell on a powerful fire. The spell was still activated and its pull had gotten stronger after Evin appeared from inside his spell. So, he definitely needed to get rid of it somehow. Thankfully, Soul-burnt mes had the ability to burn literally anything and spells weren''t exempt from that. But the process wasn''t instantaneous it seemed, as the weird pull still lingered on Evin''s body.


    ''For now, I''ll just have to survive until it''s gone and we can get out of here,'' Evin thought and cast the suffocation spell on the woman who was removing herself from the walls.


    But he noticed that when he tried to affect the air around the woman, the white mist prevented Evin''s Storm energy to do anything around the air her. Cursing, he used a Heavy spell to spontaneously increase her weight 10 times the normal amount, by thickening the World Switch that he could see under the woman. This seemed to work, as the woman was violently pulled to the ground face first. Though this feat cost the rest of his spare mana, so he had to undo the Heavy World spell, lest he overworked his mana-core.


    ''I could affect her weight pretty easily, so why is my suffocation spell not working now?'' Evin was thinking, but he was forced to worry about something else.


    [Brother I''m cold] Runa''s weak plea sounded in his head.


    Evin immediately focused on the skinshifter he was wearing, and realized that Runa''s body had be abnormally cold to his touch. He nced at his hand and found countless holes on Runa''s body all of which had tiny needles stuck inside them. The needs were quickly spreading frostbite around themselves and Evin could see that its immediate surroundings were showing signs of cracking. He looked around the ground and saw that the spots where the needles hit the ground, they had bloomed into huge chunks of sharp and pointy ice sculptures.


    ''How the fuck is she able to send out so many of these overpowered needles, anyway? Is she a peak half-core?''


    He then looked at the woman who was struggling on the ground, moaning in pain. She looked quite beat, Evin definitely knew she had some fight in her, with therge amount of white mist that she was emitting from around her. She hatefully red at Evin, and he could notice the frostbite effects on Runa''s body getting stronger and faster.


    ''Shit!'' Evin cursed and frantically created a ring of mes around himself, hoping it would help the frostbite somehow. The next moment, Enri''s voice appeared in his head.


    [Evin! Focus on destroying the Luminous spell and running away! We can have mother solve Runa''s ice problem! The man''s still conscious, but I''m sure he won''t be casting anything else for a while,] the fox growled confidently.


    The shout gave Evin some much needed direction and he quickly increased the amount of mana and soul he used for the Soul-burnt mes, to the point he was probably unable to use any other spell for quite some time. ncing at the woman, Evin noticed that the white mist was healing her battered body, and the ursed array of needles appearing around her once more.


    [You''ll be fine, Runa. Just hold on for a minute or two.] Evin said warmly, trying tofort Runa during this brief pause of the battle. The skinshifter murmured something in reply, but was quickly interrupted by the battle''s continuation.


    Countless needles flew towards him once more, but was met with a huge wall of Sorbothium and some other metals. Evin decided to block it with the pile of materials he had inside his shadow. The needles didn''t manage to reach Evin himself so he knew for sure, that the makeshift sorbothium shield would be effective.


    He couldn''t fall back into his shadow, as that would make the Soul-burnt mes disappear, and he didn''t want to use the shockwaves of air that Nasst taught him, since the needles managed to drill through Runa and get stuck on her body. He also couldn''t dodge the needles as the frostbite on Runa''s body didn''t allow him to move that freely.


    During all this, Enri was also not lying around freely. She had swum through the Dark Room, and attacked at the woman. But the other had expected something simr to happen due to what happened with her teammate so she made sure to deflect Enri''s fangs. Though she wasn''t quite able to save herself from the swipe that followed afterwards, as she was flung towards another wall inside the alleyway.


    But it wasn''t all sunshine and rainbows. The woman had also managed to stick a handful of her needles inside the fox''s pelt, which swiftly bloomed to be a huge spiky ice shard on Enri''s body.


    The fox screeched painfully, before managing to find her way back inside the safety of Evin''s Dark Room. Evin felt that Enri''s attack was a bit unnecessary, but all that didn''t matter anymore, as Evin felt the pull of the Luminous spell finally disappear.


    He quickly fell into his shadow, pulled the Dark Room back to his location alongside the wounded Enri. Without dy, he scurried away from the battlefield as fast as he could move.


    After thirty seconds of fleeing, Evin found a dark corner somewhere in town, and opened the gateway to his dimension, before swiftly jumping into it. He made the gateway appear where Enri had fallen, so the fox was lying on a patch of grass, with seven huge ice shards dangling from her body, soaked in her ck blood. Some of the World Sprites were gathering around her, shock and fear all over their faces.


    Evin didn''t bother to worry about the children''s reactions, made the fox weightless, before he quickly flew towards the Vulpine Mother''s location.


    "Kyune, wake up!" he bellowed after he saw the ck fox sleeping peacefully. Hended next to her, started some fire near himself to warm up Runa and Enri.

 Chapter 277: The aftermath

    Chapter 277: The aftermath


    Amos sat in the alleyway behind a pile of refined sorbothium, as she grunted painfully while directing the Mist towards her left side in an effort to reconnect her badly mutted arm to her shoulder. The arm, or what was left of it, was left dangling from a string of flesh and as if it was half bitten off by a rabid bear of some sorts. And that wasn''t all, the dangling excuse of an arm was bending in all the wrong directions, and overall looked like a stick that was broken in two spots.


    ''I''ll fucking kill that brat the next time I see him,'' she thought with fury.


    All this was due to a very unfortunate series of events that transpired three minutes prior. When the enemy Dark Mage jumped out of the darkness to attack her, naturally, she counterattacked with her Blooming Needles and managed to have 7 of it hit her target, despite the target''s small body. But, the Dark Mage managed to turn her weightless through some unknown means and sent her flying towards a wall.


    Since she held her shield on the right, her left arm was forced to be squashed between her and the wall. A movement, which had most definitely fractured the poor thing, and left Amos herself dizzy beyond the normal amount. But, all was well. Elites being elites, she had experienced a simr thing countless times at this point of her time and she required only a couple seconds to get her bearings together.


    And besides, she knew that victory was imminent, as she had managed to stick her needles into the enemy. In only a few seconds, they should''ve bloomed into a set of beautiful flowers, freezing her enemy''s body into a popsicle in a matter of seconds. Even if the enemy tries to fight back the process with their own methods, her partner, Lam, should''ve sent a spell or two to keep the enemy in ce once and for all. Amos wasn''t worried about Lam failing to do so, as it was basically his specialty at this point  locking down and immobilizing enemies.


    After the enemy was captured, well, the two could do really anything to him. An exposed Dark Mage was quite the sad thing, after all. They were sharp, swift and deadly and they really warranted the fear they instilled in enemies, but the moment they lose their ability to hide in the shadows, they suddenly start looking a lot less imposing than a second ago.


    ''I''ll finally be able to get that World of Water Core for myself,'' Amos even remembered herself falling into delusion like that at the time.


    But just as Amos was thinking of exchanging the captured elite for the grand prize back home, she felt the Mist around her protecting her from a spell. A spell which removed the air around her, to be exact. The Mist was already knowledgeable with this simple yet deadly World of Storms method so it easily dispelled its effects.


    But it wasn''t familiar with the method that came next, one that was proven to work on her from the previous sh with the enemy. Almost instantly, she felt her body switch from being weightless as a feather to feeling like it was madepletely out of lead, as she swiftly started falling towards the ground.


    Once again, she fell with her left arm sandwiched between herself and the ground, as her body had be heavier than the shield she was carrying. This impact left her armpletely broken in the forearm but Amos wasn''t really unhappy about this fact in particr. She was more angry that Lam managed topletely fail at containing the enemy Dark Mage, considering the fact that thetter was freely throwing spells at Amos herself.


    She hatefully nced at Lam and found him covered in a defensive spell, clutching at the stump of his missing left leg. In the corner of her vision, she also saw a giant beast diving back into the shadows.


    ''I understand that he was taken by a surprise attack, probably in the moment he was focusing to cast a spell on the Dark Mage that appeared out of his shadows, but he''s still so useless,'' Amos thought annoyedly.


    After that, Amos knew that she was left to fight against the Dark Mage and the extra Mana Beast that he kept in his shadow. She eyed the enemy and saw him in a much better state than she expected him to. The Blooming Needles did its job of applying frostbite to his body, but they hadn''t bloomed for whatever reason.


    Amos guessed that the armor he was wearing to have some magical properties, which meant that she was fighting someone loaded with money. This fact was proven true the following moment, with the giant pile of refined sorbothium he pulled out to block Amos'' next wave of needles.


    The Mana Beast also made a dramatic reappearance, roaring and baring its fangs at Amos. She managed to block the Beast''s maw with her shield, but couldn''t quite block the ensuing w swipe, which of course,nded on her left side upper arm. The impact which left her flying almost ripped her arm off, but that wasn''t all. To add insult to injury, Amos somehow crashed into the wall with her left side once again, adding another bend to her poor, poor left arm.


    ''I''ll really kill that brat, I swear I will,'' grunting so, Amos focused on fixing her arm once more.


    A minuteter, another presence filled the alleyway. A wave of darkness filled Amos'' surroundings, promptly picked up the two, and brought the two far away from the battlefield. Some unknown time passed inplete darkness, before Amos reappeared in the middle of the forest, the brightness of the sky blinding her momentarily.


    "Well, you two certainly took a beating. I rushed over the moment you called, but I couldn''t even see the culprits who did this to you both. Come over, I''ll fix you up." a drowsy voice sounded in her head.


    Amos looked over and saw her captain, Tsoma, casually standing in a puddle of darkness, curiously observing the wounds that the two-person pair obtained. A short man with a plump belly, wearing a tightfitting suit that the nobles of the west liked to don. He then chanted a random word and started to heal his two subordinates.


    "Not culprits. Just one kid. It was a half-core boy of about 8, a human by the looks of it, used the Dark World, the World of Storms, the World of Fire, and the Heavy World. Another thing to note is that he''s filthy rich by the fact that he owned an artifact armor, owned a tamed Mana Beast, and decided to block my needles with a fucking wall of sorbothium."


    "And he didn''t call anyone to help him?" Tsoma asked.


    Amos looked over at Lam, who was growing his feet back with the help of captain.


    "I was looking out for that, but no, he didn''t send any message away. He tried running away after he realized he was found, but obviously, he soon realized he was bound to the area due to my binding Luminous spell. The next time he appeared, he attacked Amos and while I was trying to bind him down once and for all, I found myself being attacked by a ck wolf of some sorts. It was trying to swallow me whole, but I managed to protect everything aside from my leg," Lam exined.


    "Anything else to note?"

 Chapter 278: Two sides conclusions

    Chapter 278: Two sides'' conclusions


    "His Darkness seemed very sharp, as you sometimes describe. Probably even sharper than yours, with how much dread I felt by just being inside it. The only reason I managed to notice him is because the way he stalked me was very reminiscent of how it felt when you were stalking us," Lam added.


    "I agree with his judgement. The moment he decided to fight us, something about his Darkness changed drastically. I even started to feel like a hen in a fucking ughterhouse inside it," Amos added honestly.


    "Hmm If even Amos felt like that, then I suppose I can only give up in front of the superiority of his Darkness," Tsoma stroked his chin with a smile, "Anything else?"


    "There was also something weird about his World of Fire spell. He used it to burn my binding Luminous spell, and its hue was off as well. I don''t know how to describe it," Lam said.


    "Huh? Really? He burned a source of light with it?" Tsoma seemed unconvinced.


    "It might''ve been something anti-Luminous World, but I couldn''t see any rune pattern on it, and my instincts don''t feel that it''s something like that anyway."


    Tsoma fell into thought for a bit, before making some conclusions.


    "Well, let''s just be thankful that he didn''t decide to finish you two off then and there. After all, he had a whole two minutes to do it, but was probably scared that enemy reinforcements wereing sooner And besides, if we ever fight again, I''m sure you two can deal with him much more easily, right?"


    "Yes, sir!" Lam and Amos replied in unison.


    "Good. For now, let''s wait for the other two pairs toe back. Also, what did you two manage to learn anyway?" Tsoma asked, and Lam started to recount the story he heard from a drugstore owner named Luiev.


    "I''m not sure what the man''s ability was. My Mana Beastpanion says that he was very proficient in defending. After she bit off his legs, he turtled uppletely and didn''t try to do anything else."


    Back inside the Secret Base, Evin was also giving his report on the battle.


    "And is your Mana Beastpanion alright?" Sannah asked.


    "She''s doing fine."


    After Kyune woke up, she very quickly healed the two wounded girls. The effects of the ice on Enri and Runa wasn''t as dramatic as what Evin was making it out to be, but they were still wounded pretty heavily. After they were fixed, both of them fell asleep. Evin had to exin everything to Kyune as well, and thetter just told him to be more careful, considering he was against mages on a simr level to him.


    "So, a mage that can use the Luminous World and another World of Water mage that''s probably a follower of the True Path" Sannah rubbed her cheeks.


    "Yes, she only used the World of Water the entirety of the fight, and her spells were ridiculously strong as well, with their frostbite effects and ability to explode," Evin said once more.


    As Evin was speaking, Ertu and Bull came from outside and from inside a Storage ring, they brought out the same pile of Sorbothium that Evin used to block the exploding needles, which coincidentally, were still lodged onto the pile. And the whole thing emitted a cold white mist around itself, after it was exposed to the warm air inside the building.


    "The site was empty when we arrived, and aside from some blood we found on the walls, there wasn''t much evidence to reveal the two''s identities," Ertu said, "There were also some curious bystanders around the area, but theycked the Oaths, so I''m sure they were just that, random bystanders."


    She then brought out a piece of paper, which depicted the alleyway that the battle took ce in.


    After looking at the picture, Sannah walked over to the metal pile and casually touched one of the sharp and spiky ice that the female mage created. And right as Sannah''s fingers made contact with the ice, it quickly started to get engulfed in ayer of cold ice. Evidently, the spell''s effects still very much active.


    ''Holy fuck, thank god I didn''t get hit by that,'' Evin thought as he observed the spell''s effects, ''How the fuck did Runa manage to stop that from happening?''


    Sannah brought out her blood-red Domain to her finger, which smothered the ice''s effects. She then had her Domain engulf Evin''s Sorbothium, so the thing wasn''t as deadly anymore.


    "You really are full of surprises. Even I''d struggle against this if I didn''t have my Domain. It really is a blessing to have you on our team," Sannah wasn''t stingy with her praise, "And also, do you think you''ll be able to better face them the next time you fight?"


    Evin thought about the chances of a rematch and sadly, saw that it was very likely to happen again. After all, the two teams had the same goal. As for how he would do in said rematch, Evin wasn''t very confident.


    "I''ll probably be able to keep the woman in check, but since I don''t know what the man is capable of, I don''t feel very confident in general. Especially because I''ve exposed many of my abilities in thest fight."


    "Alright, if we ever meet the same team in the future, we''ll try to match you with the woman. But next time you fall into such a predicament alone, make sure to call us as soon as possible. Even if you want to be more secretive, you need to learn that you have a team to rely on."


    Evin noticed that the woman liked to praise her subordinates first before scolding them. A ssic tactic that managers opted to use.


    "I''m not gonna lie, Ipletely forgot I could do that," Evin replied wryly.


    "Just make sure you remember it next time. And besides, it''s not all negatives for us. Since you didn''t call for any help, they might think that you''re working alone. Or they''ll think that you''re the strongest your team. The logic being that you felt that your subordinates wouldn''t be much help in the fight so you didn''t bother to call them," Sannah spected.


    "So, I should continue to work alone?" Evin asked.


    "Yep, though maybe be a bit more careful the next time," Sannah smiled, "But for now, let''s hear about this Avatar that you''ve mentioned earlier."


    Evin described his meeting with Luiev and retold the story he heard inside the drugstore.


    "I''m not sure exactly, but I feel that the secret organization we''re trying to find was probably trying to achieve something simr to the Avatar," Evin finished his report with his own little spection.


    "I can see where you''reing from And I feel the same as well. The other bases we found were also built for a specific purpose, or was built around a specific idea. With this, we can half-expect the things we might see in the base," Sannah said contently.

 Chapter 279: Stalking for clues

    Chapter 279: Stalking for clues


    Three dayster, Evin was sitting inside one of the two taverns, the one which looked to be the more popr out of the two. The rest of his team was out in the forest, searching for the secret base using Dzuko''s terrain radar ability.


    "You heard about the fight in the southern part of the city?" One burly man was speaking to another, while chugging a cup of ale.


    "What fight? Did some drunkards kill one another again?" the other asked, a grizzled-looking old man, who had an air of rot around him.


    "Not that kinda fight, you fool old man. A fight between mages! Apparently, they destroyed a whole entire alleyway in the process too!" the burly man eximed, but the old man didn''t seem very convinced.


    "Ain''t no fucking mages in this town. All coz our god-king Kal said our town wasn''t good enough for mages to live in."


    "I''m telling you it''s real! You can literally walk there and see the mess they''ve made. Can a normal brawl between drunkards break an entire street? And there was also this fucking pile of, how do you call it, that shiny silver metal that mages like?"


    "Sorbothium?"


    "Yeah, that thing. A pile of it was left in the alleyway afterwards, though it suddenly disappeared into the air in only a second," the burly man said excitedly, "Can you imagine how much coin you could get if you got your hands on that thing?"


    "Engi, I keep telling you to not believe random stories you hear on the streets. Though we live in a world full of mages, with the Empress'' arrangements, those high and mighty mages don''t really matter much to us normal people," the old man said with a sigh.


    "But I''m telling you I''m right! If you want, we can go check out the ce right now! Someone even said that he saw thebatants and it was a fight between a giant ice-breathing dragon and some kind of metal bending monster!"


    Many different conversations took ce in the tavern, and of course, a few of them discussed Evin''s recent fight with the two mages.


    ''Though, the scale of the fight seems to be getting bigger every minute But, I guess rumors had that effect.''


    But aside from the boundless imaginations of themon people, Evin really wasn''t able to discover anything important. He was also searching for any other suspicious people who could be mages of the other teams, but no one in particr seemed to be acting out of ce.


    [Maybe we should visit the other tavern?] Runa asked.


    [I guess so. But is it really okay for you to be so casual after almost freezing to your core?] Evin asked.


    [I''m fine, I''m fine. Super Mother even made me a bit stronger with her energy as well. If we meet that ice mage, her spells wouldn''t even make me feel cold any more,] Runa answered, [And besides, you talk a lot about keeping us out of fights, but the moment something turns south like yesterday, you immediately called upon me and Enri yesterday.]


    ''Well, that''s because I felt weird treating the World Sprites like children, but not you two. At the end of it all, you all aren''t older than a year or so,'' Evin thought but obviously he didn''t wish to say that out loud.


    [Well from this point on, I''ll be sure to run away at the first sign of trouble,] he replied perfunctorily.


    [I''d still prefer to sit here together with you,] Runa said with finality.


    Evin nodded and the two moved towards the other tavern. Like he expected, this one was much more empty than the previous one, with only a few people drinking silently in their respective seats. The owners of the tavern seemed to be a spouse of about 40 or so, a slim male who worked the kitchen and a plumpdy who looked over the two waitresses, who were probably the daughters of the two.


    There wasn''t much talking going on inside, but Evin still approached each group of people, diligently scouting for anything that might be useful. As he expected, aside from the asional talks about his fight, most of the conversations were limited to half-drunk menining about the difficulties of life.


    [I guess there''s not much to hear around this ce Should I maybe sneak into the houses of the richer people to see whether they''re speaking of something interesting?] Evin thought to Runa.


    [Isn''t that illegal?]


    [It probably is, but not if we get caught,] Evin replied smilingly.


    ''Hmm, I''m probably not the best person to raise children, huh?''


    But right as Evin was about to leave, the tavern''s door opened and Evin saw two men walk inside, both of whom were wearing a long hood, which covered their heads and bodies. The two looked a bit off, but with the way they greeted the tavern owner told Evin that these two were probably not from the elite teams of the foreign countries.


    [Let''s hear what those two have to say and then decide on leaving or not,] Evin said and moved over to the seat next to the neers, which happened to be one of the less illuminated spots inside the tavern.


    "We''ll have the usual," one of the men shouted to a plumpdy, who was already bringing in two cups of ale.


    "One cup of ale for one mister Khama, and another cup for one mister Khunuchi," the tavern owner said with a smile, putting down the cups in front of the men she''d just named, "I''ll bring the next two cups with your food, but no more than that. I don''t want to get murdered by your wives the first thing tomorrow morning."


    ''How convenient,'' Evin thought after learning the two''s names.


    "Bless you, He. Say our thanks to your husband as well," the one named Khama said with a dry chuckle and raised the cup at the woman.


    The two took a big gulp from their cups before getting morefortable in their seats. Looking around, the two of them started to take off their heavy cloaks. Evin noticed that both of the men had a deformity on their heads which looked like a painted stump of some kind. Upon closer inspection, Evin saw that Khunuchi had a blue stump, while Khama had a silver one.


    ''Are those the remains of a horn?'' Evin realized what the deformity was.

 Chapter 280: Living in terror

    Chapter 280: Living in terror


    "You heard about the fight near the factories, right?" Khunuchi started the conversation on a high note.


    "Of course. Last time I heard it from a couple kids and apparently it was a fight between an evil griffin and a beautiful ice princess," Khamaughed awkwardly, "You?"


    "Believe it or not, I was actually there when the pile of frozen Sorbothium disappeared out of sight Powerful mages fought at that ce, Khama. Just the sight of that ice on the made this thing shiver with fear," Khunuchi said, pointing at his blue horn, "I''m actually more surprised that they didn''t destroy more of the town with that fight."


    "Yeah?" Khama said offhandedly as he took another sip from the ale.


    "Anyway, aside from all that. I think those guys are back from their hiding again. Those bastards who took our horns away from us are back again, Khama," Khunichi said with a hush, looking around the tavern suspiciously.


    Instantly, Evin''s attention was captured by the two''s conversation, as Khunichi unreservedly let his spections gush out like a waterfall.


    "They ran rampantly in the town for two whole years before goingpletely silent for the past half year or so. The missing persons, the abductions, the weird noises and lights that came from underground we reported it all to the inspector that came every couple months and I''m thinking they secretly sent someone to check up on everything," Khunichi spoke like a parrot high on mushroom, "I know on the surface, they always dismissed the case as nothing more than people acting out due to harsh living conditions, and told us to move to cities protected by a Tribe, but I think they were acting ignorant so they could bust out on the bastards when the moment was right!"


    During this entire time, Khama sat with a strained expression, but couldn''t quite make himself interrupt his friend''s speech.


    "I think the secret group started toy low, because they knew that the Northern powers were watching the area. And after five months of silence, they finally shed with each other yesterday! I mean, how could our rulers ignore us after those guys did this to our horns, right? It''s sphemy against our primogenitor St!" Khunichi continued.


    "This means that there are two sides currently fighting against each other now, and it''s prime time for us to pick one side to help them out. We can give them information on what we gathered previously and we''ll finally be able to get our hands on the horns. What do you say, buddy? And maybe, we''ll be able to uh," Khunichi said, before he abruptly stopped.


    He seemed to look at Khama''s face, perhaps to see what kind of expression the other was having.


    "I''m sorry," Khunichi apologized, but evidently, he was still very adamant on his ns, "But I still feel that we''re finally seeing hope after all these years."


    Khama nodded at his friend''s awkward apology and sighed.


    "Brother, we both know it''s not that simple. We were ying with fire two years ago, without even knowing that it was fire that we were ying with. And how did it end up for us?" Khama said, chugging another gulp from his ale, "Us two got helplessly kidnapped and had our horns stolen by those monstrous men. And as if they were mocking our efforts, they let us go to afterwards without another scratch. They knew that our please of help were going to be ignored, even if we reappeared in society with missing horns."


    "But this time it''s different! They''re weakened, Khama! I can feel it in the town''s air!" Khunichi continued, but was cut off by Khama.


    "And we both know that for now, all we''ve got going for us is baseless spection. If you haven''t forgotten, this is exactly the same as what happened then. Two ignorant children charged into a river that ran much deeper than the normally shallow waters they yed in," Khama''s voice started to shake with fear, "There are monsters in this World, Khunichi, and it''s best for us to steer clear from them. All we can do is that the monsters wouldn''t take us or anyone close to us next."


    "But this is finally our chance! Don''t you want to"


    "I WILL NOT RISK MY DAUGHTER," Khama stood up from his seat, raising his voice before looking around the tavern ufortably. Faced with the curious stares of the other patrons, he sat down and took a deep breath. Looking straight at Khunichi, he resumed in a calmer manner, though there was still some shaking left in his voice.


    "I will not risk the life of my daughter, Khunichi. I can''t. Not after what happened to my son. Especially not at this time when my wife is finally showing signs of recovery. Also, I''ve been thinking of moving to a different town as well."


    There was a firm sense of finality to his voice, so Khunichi could only ept things as is and apologize, again: "I''m sorry for being so insensitive."


    "I''m sorry for getting a bit heated there as well. What do you say we eat and drink to our heart''s content tonight and forget about these matters of mages?"


    "But are you sure about moving? After all, we''ve been through many things in this town of ours," Khunichi asked.


    "Nothing''s set in stone, but I''m fairly serious about the move. I suggest you do the same as well. You''re finally going to have a child soon, right?"


    The plumpdy soon brought their food and the two men ate, speaking of other, trivial topics.


    Evin, who had listened to the entire conversation, was summarizing everything he learned on a text-basedmunication device to send to Sannah, after making doubly sure that there wasn''t another hidden mage inside the tavern. He used a bit of a risky method, but thankfully, he found nothing out of the ordinary.


    Evin really didn''t want to get caught in another fight, but the prospect of having to share the same information with another mage didn''t sit well with him either.


    [Found clue that might be rted to the organization behind the base. A Hornbearer who was captured by an unknown group in the fast and had his horns cut off. Shows willingness to work with the Northern authorities to fight against said unknown organization. Requesting permission to act as an emissary from the Paradra after confirming the legitimacy of the Hornbearer''s statement. Also, he mentioned weird noises and lights that came from the underground. Unclear from where exactly, but I''m sure I can discover more details if I talk to him.]


    After sending the message, Evin patiently waited for a response from his team leader, while making spections of his own.


    ''I guess the Northern leaders are quite adamant on having its citizens move to the Tribe ruled cities, considering they were willing to let these unknown organizations run amok in the old cities'' Evin thought.


    If Khunichi''s speech was to be believed, then the organization was acting quite brazenly in the town of Saar. Evin found it very hard that a government ruled by mages would let things deteriorate to such a level, where the citizens and even Hornbearers couldn''t feel safe. Unless of course, they were specifically instructed to ignore any plea of help that came from the town.


    ''Well, I guess this is what you get when you''re ruled by a dictator, regardless of the dictator''s good intentions. Not everyone can be satisfied after all.''

 Chapter 281: Lost respect

    Chapter 281: Lost respect


    As Evin was thinking about Kal''s rule, he saw some words appearing on themunication device he was holding. Excitedly, he read the message inside.


    [Eleven One allows Eleven Six to act in a manner he sees fit. If he is unable to find any relevant information through interrogation, he is to return tonight and report in a more detailed manner. He is warned to be careful of a trap, as simr baits and tricks are known to be used by teams, Paradra included.]


    A very short message, written in the form of a report to the headquarters, but it got the point across to Evin as well. Evin decided to wait for the two to finish eating and then approach Khunichi as a member of the Paradra. But the warning in the end made him think a bit.


    ''A trap, huh? I can see how people might stage a simr act to lure unsuspecting mages to their demise. But I don''t think it''s possible for these two to be acting. After all, for that to happen, this whole entire tavern must be paid actors.''


    With little thought, Evin could deduce the legitimacy of the situation pretty easily. After all, judging from how everyone acted, Evin could see that the owners were familiar with the two men, and the other patrons of the tavern were familiar with the owners.


    Sure, they could all be paid actors who yed a role of visiting this tavern and talking about random stuff, but that meant that a certain part of the town''s poption belonged to the enemy entirely.


    ''I like conspiracy theories and though I know that some of them are actually true, but I like to think that I''m a logician first and foremost,'' Evin thought and decided to trust the integrity of the situation.


    Unsurprisingly, Evin spent some of his time as a spirit, debunking popr conspiracy theories on Earth. He''d spend much of his time inside heavily guarded military locations getting a free tour of the interiors of such ces, so to speak. After all, nothing could be kept secret from a dead person, after all.


    Probably the one thing that shocked him the most was that the top powers in the world didn''t have aliens or alien technologies kept inside their bases. With all the sightings of UFOs and weird stories, Evin was sure that Earth would''ve gotten their hands on at least one extraterrestrial object during its long history. But aside from thetest technology and poisons, Evin didn''t really see anything interesting in forbidden areas.


    However, Earth did have a very dedicated research team on anything extraterrestrial. Their main job was to make sense of all the UFO sightings in the world, and maybe try to replicate the feats that these UFOs performed.


    ''Wait! Are those UFOs just tricks that Four or someone like to pull on Earthlings?'' Evin suddenly thought of an exnation.


    He heard that the Empress sometimes visited Earth on some asions, and Four also told him about her room, which was partially connected to Earth as well. It really wouldn''t be difficult for Four to create lightshows in the sky for themon people. And judging by her personality, she was definitely one of the people who would do such things.


    There was also the woman who sent Evin to Alvox in the first ce. Evin was pretty sure they would be able to pull off something simrly mysterious if she wanted to.


    ''Hmm'' Evin thought with interest.


    Since his target was currently busy eating with his friend, Evin was free to spend his time thinking of random things.


    [What are you thinking about, brother?] Runa interrupted and Evin started to exin his thought process to the other.


    Time passed slowly, before finally, Khunichi and Khama finished their conversation. After saying their goodbyes, the two headed back to their respective homes.


    Evin followed behind Khunichi, and ended up inside the man''s house. A simple building that had a very distinct upper-middle ss feel to it. It reminded him a lot of his own house, except it was seemed a lot more used. Inside was Khunichi''s spouse, who seemed to be about 7 months pregnant. A strikingly beautiful woman who harshly scolded her husband for being out too much, drinking around with random men. After venting out her frustrations, she herself decided to sleep in a different room, not wanting to be woken up due to Khunichi''s loud snoring.


    At this point, Evin was 100% convinced that there was no trap. Even though he''d decided that beforehand, it wasn''t a bad idea to double check things. In Evin''s mind, if he had to do something that concerned his life, the least he could do was to be prudent in his actions.


    ''But now that I''ve confirmed my safety, maybe I can act in a less serious manner''


    Khunichi sat down on his bed, removing his clothing one by one. He seemed to enjoy the process in a weirdly specific way, a smile on his face as he undressed. Perhaps he enjoyed the prospect of a long night''s sleep after a harsh day''s living; the process of undressing serving as a prelude to the uing act.


    The more he grew older, the more he learned to enjoy the act of sleeping. In his dreand, he wouldn''t have to suffer the naggings of his wife, he wouldn''t have to live through the stares of his peers, and he would also still be possessing his blue horn. Many random thoughts swirled inside his head, but one subject kept reappearing time after time.


    ''It''s a shame that Khama''s uninterested in these things anymore But I suppose I should forget about our youth all the same. We''ve had our fill of fun, ying detective in this small town, where he''d be the brains and I''d be the brawn, but like everything, things need to end.''


    Khunichi sighed, once again reminded of his lost blue horn. Even after a year, Khunichi still missed the awe-inspiring power that it allowed him to possess. He knew that his small-time tricks weren''t anything worth mentioning in front of actual mages, but it was still magic, nheless.


    For them, who were surrounded only by normal people, it was exhrating to be so much more specialpared to others. Khunichi was like the son of the winter with his blue horn, easily solving any problem that involved water or ice. Khama, on the other hand, was like the smartest man alive, with his ess to the exalted World of Thoughts.


    This was the reason why the two refused to move to Tribe ruled towns or cities. After all, deep down inside, the two knew very well how insignificant they were. The only people who would respect them would be the ignorant and the powerless. Khunichi was also sometimes afraid that the only reason he managed to marry such a beautiful wife was because of his horn, and not himself.


    The fact became even more evident when his wife''s attitude became more and more unbearable with each passing day. Sure, the two had their fair share of fights in the past, but Khunichi could definitely notice how the frequency of their fights increasing drastically after that dreaded incident. Even today, with the way she ranted and raved for so long because he went drinking for a couple hours with Khama.


    ''Before, she''d give me passionate kiss, despite the alcohol seeping from my mouth, and we''d do it right by the entrance to our house. But now, all I get is a thorough scolding and a lonely night to go along with it'' Khunichi sighed, feeling regretful that he didn''t drink more in the tavern, ''If only I had my horns on my head once more.''


    As he was reminiscing about the long forgotten past, he noticed something white fluttering in the air in front of him. Confused, and a bit startled, he jumped back at the sudden sight, before staring at the object that appeared out of nowhere.


    "Is that a piece of paper?" he murmured, as his brain finally identified the object he was looking at. There was something written on it as well, but Khunichi couldn''t really make sense of it from this distance.


    He looked around the room, unsure of what exactly he was searching for. But, finding nothing out of the ordinary, his gaze fell on the slip of paper once more. With some hesitation, he picked it up and read its contents.


    [If you wish for a chance to retrieve your horn, gently p your hands once. If you wish to have nothing to do with all this, p twice. Don''t panic. I don''t like much noise. And do hurry. I don''t like much waiting.]


    Khunichi''s eyes narrowed down to a dot, as he felt his slightly tipsy head clear up in a matter of seconds. Holding the paper, he looked around the room once again, though he was oddly afraid of looking towards the window. Nothing.


    "Who are you? And what do you want from me?" he asked in a whisper, for some reason trying to hide everything from his wife.


    Khunichi didn''t know what kind of answer he expected or why he asked such a useless question in the first ce, but he patiently waited for an answer regardless. Though sadly for him, no answer came.


    ''What the hell is happening?'' he thought, reading the message one more time.


    Khunichi thought he''d jump at any chance to regain his horns without hesitation, but here he was, confused and afraid. In his heart he hoped this was the mysterious ally he''d been expecting all this time, but a deeper part of him said that this was once of those monsters ying a game with him again.

 Chapter 282: Lupin

    Chapter 282: Lupin


    Many questions swirled inside his head, but in the end, none of it really mattered. After all, the choice of epting always carried a certain about of risk to it.


    After a bout of deliberation inside his head, Khunichi decided to take a figurative leap of faith. Gulping, he gently pped his hands and looked around the room fearfully.


    As he''d half-expected, something started to materialize in the corner of his vision. Next to the window, a tall, well-dressed man materialized into existence. Khunichi could only stare silently, met with such a man who exuded charisma out of every pore of body. Although impossible, something told him that even if this man came from the secret organization he''d been chasing, he''d still find himself wishing to work under him.


    ''No, what the hell am I thinking about? I have to y this out calmly and eloquently. I can''t let myself get caught in his rhythm!''


    "Well met. And thank you for not making such a fuss due to my appearance," the man spoke eloquently, and without pause or deliberation, like most others tended to, "You must be Khunichi, am I correct?"


    "Yes, I am uh, who are you?" Khunichi stammered, despite his intended calmness..


    "Oh my, how rude of me. I go by the name, Lupin. I''m an agent of Paradra, sent to investigate the abandoned remains of a secret base, located near this city somewhere."


    "Paradra, really? You''re going to get me my horn back?" Khunichi asked excitedly, before his brain registered the meaning of Lupin''s words, "Wait, abandoned base?"


    "Exactly as you say though you seem to think otherwise."


    "No, of course it''s not abandoned. It''s been functioning since three years ago! Sure, they''ve been a bit silent for the past few months, but they can''t have abandoned it all."


    "It could be as you say, as we''ve no method to bepletely sure, but the Paradra is fairly certain it''s abandoned," Lupin said.


    "Then what about that fight a few days ago? How did those fightse to be?"


    "It''s the other counties'' agents trying to put their hands on something that rightfully belongs to us."


    "Why are you searching for it in the first ce? What''s so important about it?"


    "I''m afraid I won''t be able to tell you about that. But even if I could, most likely, I could only utter a somewhat believable lie," Lupin said unpretentiously.


    Khunichi didn''t quite understand everything, but he did like how honestly Lupin spoke to him. It felt like he was being taken seriously and it pleased him greatly.


    "Wait, how do you know of all this in the first ce?" Khunichi suddenly realized.


    Lupin only smiled and pointed at Khunichi''s right hand. Confused, Khunichi looked at his hand, and saw a ck spider with overly long legs, its eyed marbly eyes staring back at him. Startled, he shook his hands in an almost exaggerated way. The spider on his arms jumped like some kind of insectoid rabbit andnded on Lupin''s hands.


    "Sorry if I''ve startled you. One of mypanions here heard your conversation in the tavern, which lead me to visit you personally. Isn''t he cute?" Lupin exined, yfully fondling the spider on his hands.


    "Uh, yes of course," Khunichi said, even though he didn''t really agree with the man at all.


    ''What the hell? Spiders can understand humans? No. It should be the case for that spider only,'' Khunichi finally calmed down, but something didn''t sit right with him.


    "Isn''t that immoral? To listen to people talk, without their knowing."


    "Well, you would be right, but I don''t think you''re fit to say that, really. After all, you''ve stalked quite a lot of beauties with your friend, haven''t you? Both of you, covered in the safety of your illusions," Lupin said with a smile.


    Khunichi was suddenly reminded of a distant memory in which him and Khama stood awkwardly inside the woman''s bathhouse, ogling at the beauties without consequence or punishment.


    "How do you know that?!" Khunichi found himself eximing. Panicking, he put his hands to his mouth, and looked towards the room where his wife was sleeping.


    "Ha-ha, it seems you''ve indeed done something simr in the past. Don''t worry, any man with a silver horn seems to think of the idea one day or another. I was simply guessing randomly," Lupin said with augh, "And you don''t have to worry about your wife hearing you. No sound will leave this room."


    Khunichi found himself wanting to hide somewhere, blushing from both his ears.


    "Well, embarrassing pasts aside, will you help me find that base or not? Although I don''t think the monsters in human clothing aren''t there, I''m sure they''ve left a pile of stuff worth seeing. Who knows? Maybe your horn is in there somewhere? If you''re unwilling, I''ll take my leave here. I can''t force you to help me as per my vow, after all," Lupin urged.


    At this point, Khunichi only had one path left for him.


    "I''ll help to the best of my abilities. Where do we begin? Although I can''t use the World of Water now, I can still fight closebat pretty adeptly."


    "Hold down there, soldier. I don''t need you to fight my wars, I just need you to provide me with information. Leave the rest to me," Lupin said.


    "No, I can seriously help you. Trust me!" Khunichi said.


    The reason he was being so unreasonable was because he was afraid they wouldn''t bother to bring him back his horn. Fearfully, he looked at Lupin, but thetter simply smiled back.


    "I''ll be honest with you here. First of all, I''m not allowed to take random strangers under my care, like I''m collecting a bunch of stray cats. Secondly, it''s much too dangerous of a job for a Hornbearer to live through. And thirdly, you''re much too weak to be of any use, even if you were to join me as a porter of some sorts."

 Chapter 283: Illusions

    Chapter 283: Illusions


    Even if Lupin told him the truth right in front of him, Khunichi still wasn''t convinced. He felt that he was much more capable than what others thought of him.


    ''I thought he was taking me seriously, but I guess he''s the same as everyone else,'' he thought in his head.


    "You know what? Try me. Throw at me anything you can think of and I''ll prove that I''m capable," Khunichi said confidently, but thinking about the matter a bit more, he added, "Just, don''t do anything that''ll kill me instantly."


    He was a bit scared that he''d offended the mage, but Lupin didn''t seem to mind it that much. As far as he was aware.


    "Alright, if you can hit me once, I''ll let you join me. To make it even easier for you, I''ll stay as still as a statue and only use one spell from this point on. But, if you are unable to, you have to tell me everything you know regarding the secret base," the mage suddenly said.


    ''He''s underestimating me too much,'' Khunichi thought smugly, suddenly feeling that he might be able to join the Paradra if he pushed hard enough.


    "Alright," he answered, but just as he was about get up and walk over, he felt his knees giving up, forcing him to kneel on the ground on all fours. It suddenly felt like an invisible hand was pushing him from above, trying to shove him to the ground once and for all.


    ''I mustn''t let it push me downpletely!'' Khunichi thought, knowing that if he fell to the ground with his belly, his chances of getting up would disappearpletely. It was best for him to struggle through the sudden weight and reach Lupin in that manner. After all, the man was only three steps away from reach. Khunichi could have probably also reached Lupin even if he fell on his belly, by wriggling on the ground like a worm but that was much too unsightly for Khunichi''s standards.


    Courageously, he tried to lift one of his arms from the ground, but he stumbled, and lost bnce entirely. Very quickly, he found himself lying on the ground in a very awkward position. His forehead was glued to the floor, his knees were stuck between the floor and his stomach, and his two arms were stuck above his head. In whole, he looked like he was praying to Lupin, who was standing in front of him.


    It was a bit awkward, but at least this position allowed him to take a small break and think about his situation.


    ''This should be one of those Heavy World spells! If I''m not mistaken, these things cost a ton of mana to uphold,'' Khunichi thought, remembering the things he learned when he got his horn for the first time.


    Unlike Khama, who headed home immediately after getting his horn, Khunichi stayed in a Tribe to learn a bit more. But unfortunately, he couldn''tst long in the Tribe, as he fell sick a monthter to an external injury. But, he did manage to learn some details regarding mages and he mage sure to remind himself of these details asionally.


    Thanks to this knowledge, Khunichi knew that Lupin''s spell would have to end at some point. If he waited for that exact moment when the spell''s effects disappeared, then he''d be able to make a dash and reach Lupin. Though there was a slight worry in his heart, one that felt the spell''s effects getting stronger over time.


    "Oh, if you''re thinking of waiting out my spell, then I''m afraid I have bad news for you. The pressure on you will indefinitely be stronger and stronger until you be a puddle on your bedroom floor. Well, maybe that''s an overstatement. But it is true that your bones and organs will shatter under the pressure, most likely starting from your fingers and toes. In any case, I think you should either try to reach me now, or give up entirely."


    Lupin was quick to dash Khunichi''s hopes. And the graphic description of his potential death did its job of scaring Khunichi out of his wits. He tried to pull his body up using his arms, but all he could manage was to hopelessly scratch the floor with his hands. He then tried to push himself against the floor using his feet, but that failed too, as there wasn''t enough friction between him and the painted wooden floor.


    But his problems didn''t end there. Now that he was aware of the increasing strength of the spell, the toll on his mind became stronger as well. It was like the hand on top of him was slowly turning into an unconquerable mountain.


    Just as Khunichi was struggling on the ground, randomly iling his hands above him, he heard a snapping sound. He wanted to see how the sound came to be, but he couldn''t, as his forehead was glued to the floor. Suddenly, a wave of pain assaulted his mind, making Khunichi panic even further.


    ''Your bones and organs will shatter under the pressure starting from your fingers and toes,'' Lupin''s words appeared in his mind.


    ''Is my finger crushed?'' Khunichi simply couldn''t rid his brain of this idea.


    "Snap!" The sound appeared once more, followed by the wave of pain.


    At this point, Khunichi didn''t have the willpower to plow through this experience. He opened his mouth to dere his defeat, but his tongue suddenly fell under the effects of the spell and became stuck to the dirt of the floor.


    "Hurrrrrggghhh," in the end, he could only groan out something unintelligible.


    "Do you wish to surrender?" Lupin''s voice entered Khunichi''s ears followed by another "Snap!"


    "Huuurrrghh!" Khunichi groaned out once again, with a bit more emotion this time.


    "I''m sorry, I can''t quite understand what you''re saying. Please repeat it clearly."


    "Hnoo Hmoo!" Khunichi managed to mutter out a ''No more,''.


    "Alright, I''ll stop bullying you for now," Lupin said.


    Khunichi''s vision went ck for a second, before he saw himself sitting on his bed again. He fearfully looked at his fingers, and found them looking the same as ever. But the pain of his fingers getting crushed still lingered in his head, which was very unsettling, to say the least.


    "You''ve only fallen under an illusion. No need to panic so much," Lupin chuckled, "But I will need you to speak of the information I require. The sooner the better."


    With this, Khunichi didn''t feel like trying his luck anymore.

 Chapter 284: Suspicions

    Chapter 284: Suspicions


    Evin gathered the information he got from Khunichi and went back to the temporary base. Runa went back into Evin''s dimension, since there wasn''t anything dangerous to face, which left Evin alone with his thoughts.


    ''Can''t believe he actually asked to join the Paradra at the end of it all'' Evin thought, impressed by the man''s guts.


    But sadly, guts alone didn''t really help someone be sessful. A certain about of skill, or luck was needed to back up one''s brave decisions. Well, it didn''t really matter, since Evin had gotten everything he needed from the man. And he promised to give him back his horn if he saw it lying around the secret base he was about to raid, as a way to reward Khunichi''s help.


    When Evin entered the temporary base, he noticed that the rest of the team was already inside themon room, waiting for him with a cup of tea in each other''s hands. Dzuko and Yazuran had alreadye, so the team was fully functional.


    ''Damn, I should get myself a cup of coffee'' Evin suddenly felt a great craving. He walked over to the desk and started boiling some water.


    "How did it go?" Sannah asked, noticing his arrival.


    "Pretty good. I couldn''t find the exact location of the base, but I''m pretty sure it''s under the city somewhere and it was established 5 or 4 years ago," Evin replied, "Tons of local earthquakes were felt around that time, and the amount of kidnappings suddenly increased in number as well. There wasn''t any specific characteristic to the people that disappeared, just anyone that usually liked to walk around the town streets alone."


    As he was speaking, he poured in some coffee grounds into the metal filter he made for himself, trying not to add in too much.


    "The man also mentioned lots of weird sounds and lightsing from underground. He mentioned one instance, there was even a phenomena, where thin strands of bluish light seemed to seep out from the ground below one night. The residents of the town sent a notice to the inspector thates in monthly, but they didn''t really receive any information back. Could you ask headquarters if they''ve received anything simr?" Evin asked.


    He sat down next to the rest and looked at the hot water slipping through theyer of coffee with longing. The rest were already familiar with Evin''s daily ritual so they weren''t really bothered by it all.


    "Ertu," Sannah ordered and thetter went to themunication device. Sannah resumed the conversation, "Do you think the man''s trustworthy?"


    "He didn''t look like he was bribed or anything, and I witnessed a few moments where the town residentsmunicated with him," Evin said and described what happened in more detail, starting with the conversation between the two Hornbearers and ending with Khunichi''s guesses about the potential location of the secret base.


    After all, Khunichi and the two had been captured at one point. Obviously, they were blindfolded and put unconscious, but they still remembered where they got captured and they both agreed that they''ve been carried through a long set of stairs shortly after. This narrowed down the ces the team needed to search marginally.


    "At the end of it, he even asked to join the Paradra," Evin joked slightly after he finished.


    Sannah and the rest listened to the full story and everyone seemed convinced, except for Yazuran.


    "Is Eleven Six really trustworthy? During the entirety of the mission, he seems to be the only one discovering things one after another. We''ve had cases where turncoats pulled us into craftily sequenced traps. Moreover, Eleven Six seems to only stumble upon these revtions through random coincidences."


    Evin heard the man''sints and found some logic to it all. After all, for Evin, who was living through these incidents, it didn''t really seem all coincidental to him. But for someone else sitting on the sidelines, things start to seem suspicious. But he still had to exin himself to a certain degree.


    "It''s not that I''ve stumbled upon them by coincidence. I actively visited crowded areas in hopes of hearing anything useful from the patrons, or in hopes of spotting someone suspicious stalking around like myself. Today, I was switching between the two taverns, listening to everyone''s conversation before I finally stumbled upon Khunichi."


    "But you also found yourself in a fight with two enemies three days ago and survived. Not only did you survive, but you incapacitated one of thempletely, while managing to mutte the other''s leg in the process. Also, I''ve heard about the effects of the ice shard on Eleven One''s finger. I heard that you got pelted by a dozen of the things, but for some reason, you seempletely finepared to her? Isn''t this just another of your ys to get on our good side and lure us into a something sinister? I feel that you noticing the trio of mages during our trip was also some part of your n."


    "First of all, Sannah touched the spell without any protection whatsoever. If she had just covered her fingers with a protectiveyer of some sorts, not even her World Domain, the effects would''ve been much less dramatic. This is the reason why it''s okay for us to lob spells at each other, but not at non-mages. My skinshifter armor is deeply imbued with Dark Energies, so it shows a certain amount of resistance to a spell''s effects," Evin started.


    "As for how I was able to win against two enemies, well, I have many tricks up my sleeve. They didn''t know that, so they couldn''t protect themselves from them. If I ever fight the same people again, I''m sure I''ll face a much stronger fightpared to before."


    "You might also say that I should''ve killed them altogether if I was strong enough to incapacitate them to such a degree. But the problem was, they didn''t look very incapacitated to me, with the woman endlessly throwing exploding needles at me and the man''s situationpletely unknown to me at the time. I learned that he had lost his leg only after everything was over. There was also the risk of their alliesing over to help, and I definitely wasn''t willing to fight an entire team of elites."


    Hearing Evin''s exnation, Yazuran still didn''t look very convinced. But thankfully, someone from the team defended Evin.

 Chapter 285: A small bonus

    Chapter 285: A small bonus


    "Although everything seems like a convenient coincidence, it''s way too coincidental to be orchestrated by someone," said Dzuko and pulled out a small envelope from inside his armor, "I was also curious about the neer''s potential connection to the trio so I asked Headquarters to check up whether the Old Relics met with Evin at any point in the past. They happily obliged since they wanted dirt on director, but as you know, even if they show some bias in their report conclusions, they never lie on the facts. You can read their reply here."


    He opened up the envelope in front of everyone and had them read it.


    ''What the hell, I was investigated privately?'' Evin thought curiously and read the short summary.


    [Clean. No connection to be found between Eviendra of Smallwall town and the Old Relics. Headquarters still warn team Eleven to act carefully around Eleven Six.]


    By this time Ertu also received a reply from headquarters, which forwarded the reports of the inspector that frequented the town of Saar


    [The town residents came up with another unbelievable story yet again. Small pirs of lighting out of the ground itself. I can see it happening if there were gaps all over the ground to let the light go through, but as one might guess, no gaps in the ground. Unless there are some tiny little bugs that emitted light in such a specific way, there''s no way for pirs of light to appear from the ground.]


    The report then listed some of the previous ''stories'' that the residents cooked up. The inspector didn''t try to hide his suspicions regarding these incidents, saying that the residents just wanted the attention of higher-ups for whatever reason. First they started with earthquakes, then came kidnappings. The government officials took these two incidents pretty seriously, but since they weren''t able to unearth anything substantial, the case was dropped soon after.


    But since simr reports from Saar kepting again and again with no evidence to back anything up, very quickly, everyone just thought they were messing with them.


    "It''s an unlucky turn of events, which lead to the citizens here to live under an invisible reign of terror," Sannah said solemnly, "But although unfortunate, aside from writing a report on this incident to reveal thexness of our mid-level officials, there''s nothing else we can do for now."


    ''I guess unlucky is one way to describe things''


    "But aside from that, this should prove Evin''s innocence to a certain degree. If we want to, we can double check its legitimacy by asking about the disappearances from the older residents here tomorrow. Of course, there''s still a certain amount of risk to things, but being overly paranoid when the facts areid in front of us is a stupid thing," Sannah said, smiling at Evin.


    "Instead of trying to find me in him, we should thank him for making our job much easier," Sannah said and the team started working on a n.


    In the end, they decided to map the general area using Dzuko''s skill, while the rest of the team were tasked to protect him. Evin''s job shifted from searching for information or the other teams to tailing his team from a distance, acting as a scout of some sorts. And after they found the secret base, Evin would join the group again and hide inside the group''s shadow.


    With the next day''s n ready, the team disbanded to their respective rooms. Evin was also about to go sleep, but Sannah stopped him.


    "Yes?" Evin asked.


    "Just wanted to thank you for the good work."


    "Oh, don''t mind that. The faster we finish, the better for everyone. And besides, I just got lucky," Evin shrugged.


    "I''ve heard from the director that you''ve already been paid?" Sannah asked.


    "That''s right. But now that I think about it, the payment was just enough to get me qualified to join this team. So from here on out, I''m going to be working under him until the Horn Ceremony starts." Evin answered.


    "Oh right, you still don''t have a horn yet. Well, I hope you be a twin horn like our director. Even if you don''t get one, don''t be discouraged as it''s nothing too serious. Just a small drawback," Sannah was saying, before she suddenly apologized, "Sorry about talking to you like I''m talking to a child. It just happened when I was autopiloting."


    "Ha-ha, don''t worry. At this point, I''m already used to it. But, why did you mention payments?"


    "As you know, most Tribes work with a contribution system in the North. So for a team after a mission, we unanimously decide which member contributed the most, so that mage get a hefty bonus at the end of it. I''m thinking I''ll nominate you for it this time, despite the protests that mighte from the traditionalists."


    "Well, as long as Ipletely don''t flop everything during the exploration phase, then I guess I deserve of a small bonus at the end of it all," Evin replied smilingly. It was true that he contributed to the search a lot up to this point, so much so that


    "In any case, the team members usually request what they could get if they be the top contributor at the beginning of a mission. Headquarters then decide whether that''s usible or not. And of course, since you weren''t there at that time, you don''t have that. So if you have something specific you want, give me a small letter for it. I feel that if you request it at the end of a mission, someone might find it as an excuse to refuse it."


    "Alright, but what can I request for a prize, anyway?" Evin asked.


    "Anything, really  Magical materials, Core Shards, assimtion techniques, spell-casting techniques, specific studies of magical subjects etc. You can start requesting for World Corester on, but I can''t really see that being epted in your current state," Sannah added, "Other than that, you can request information on areas or specific individuals; request protection for your family members; and even ask for a potentially suitable fianc, or fiances if you''re into that, provided you take a small personality test."


    "Huh, they weren''t lying when they said that you could get anything you want if you join the Paradra, huh?" Evin murmured.


    "Ha-ha, well, great power usuallyes with great advantages. In any case, you can give it some thought and get back to meter. Goodnight for now," Sannah said and walked off to her room.


    Evin thought about the prize, before deciding on one thing.

 Chapter 286: Sonder

    Chapter 286: Sonder


    Evin thought about the prize after entering his room.


    Aside from maybe Core Shards and World Cores, he really didn''t need anything else. It would''ve also been nice if he could get acquainted with a bunch of runes and their functions as well.


    Evin memorized the two runes he saw when he faced the three mages in the forest, and the two mages in town. Heter tried recreating the two runes with a luminous spell and learned the previous one was something specifically anti-shadow and worked best when used with a luminous spell, while thetter one was some kind of rune with binding effects against Dark Mages.


    ''I thought I''d never find a proper use for this photographic memory of mine aside from cheating tests, but I guess you can find a use for anything if you try hard enough,'' Evin thought jokingly.


    But this method of memorizing every rune after facing it once wasn''t really a good thing in practice. If Evin somehow met an overpowered rune and didn''t recognize it at first sight, he could find himself in a very bad spot.


    Hence his wish to see and get acquainted with more runes, but honestly, there were simply too many of them. If he used all his contribution points to see runes, he''d very quickly find himself fresh out of points. And besides, if he really wanted to, he could simply enter Gizel''s team to get ess to all the runes he needed.


    Other than that, Evin didn''t really have anything else he wanted. Other than of course, "I guess I can ask for research on the emotional effects of Worlds on mages"


    Although he''d already gotten used to the sudden emotional swings that came with casting spells, he still hadn''t solved the problem of the Heavy world. Although he had a dozen or so years ahead of him, it didn''t hurt to prepare in advance.


    He asked Nasst about it in the past, but the old man either forgot about it or didn''t find anything useful. If it was thetter case, then the North might not have had any concrete info on subject but it didn''t hurt to try.


    Sitting down, he started writing a letter describing his desire for the research. And if that wasn''t avable, Evin asked for two Core Shards, one for the World of Storms and one for the World of Thoughts. Since he was in an elite team, naturally, he expected the payment to be high.


    Kyune had exined to him that having a mana-core that was only fed Dark Core Shards was a bit too excessive. It was best to branch out a bit.


    Finished with his letter, he went to give it to Sannah.


    "Research on the Worlds'' emotional effects? Why such a niche topic?" she asked.


    "It''s something personal."


    "Okay. But I think you can just ask for the four Core Shards with the research included and they''ll ept it, you know? If mages want Core Shards, they usually ask for 5 anyway." she reminded, "I really don''t think a research paper on a small topic like that would cost that much."


    "Oh I guess you''re right," Evin realized and rewrote his letter, to include two World of Storms Shards, a Heavy World Shard, and a World of Thoughts Shard.


    "Alright, goodnight for now, then," Sannah waved Evin off.


    The next day, Saar''s slum area.


    ordingly to the n, Evin was hiding under the shadow of a tall building, while the rest of Evin''s team was stood guard around Dzuko. The tall schrly man was using his ability to search for the secret base''s entrance, scouring every nook and cranny inside the buildings around.


    [I kinda wanted to go around people''s houses, searching for information, but I guess this is good enough,] Runa said randomly.


    [Me too,] added Enri from the side.


    [Huh?] Evin asked, not quite understanding their intents.


    Today, Evin had two guests keeping himpany in his head, making him feel like a child who had a bunch of imaginary friends inside his head.


    [I mean, I always wondered why you liked to do that so much. I sometimes hear you muttering about wanting follow one person or another. Maybe if I see someone living inside their own house, doing things, I can understand it a bit more,] Runa exined.


    [Oh, then Runa, do you think that you have more vivid andplex livespared to other people?] Evin asked.


    [I do. After all, I''m a World Sprite turned into a metal skinshifter, who calls a human as my brother. And sometimes I find myself thinking about the meaning of familial rtionships a lot, since all my siblings are World Sprites] Runa said some very deep things.


    [How about you, Enri?]


    [I can''t say I feel that my life is dull. It has many happy moments but it has many negative moments, as well. But hearing your stories, I always find myself thinking that''s life.]


    ''Empress almighty, these two think too much. But I guess it''s natural since they''re being raised by two cynical idiots,'' Evin thought before continuing.


    [Alright, have you ever heard of a term called Sonder?]


    The two girls mentally shook their heads.


    [It''s a word that describes a certain emotion. Sonder is a feeling when you realize that everyone you see, everyone who passes you by has their own rich andplex life. Their life has the same kind of feelings as yours does - with heartache and happiness, and routines, family, and everything else that happens in life.]


    The two girls mentally nodded slowly, digesting the meaning of Evin''s words.


    [You don''t have to be a sentient blood, or a sentient piece of metal to be special. Everyone in the world is special. The things that happen to you don''t have to be bizarre or out of the ordinary to be considered interesting. Some people like watching a fire, some people like watching rivers, some people like watching animals from a distance. Heck, you could even enjoy doing literally nothing, but it doesn''t chance the fact that you still think and feel during those moments.]


    [Is that why you like observing other people so much?] Runa asked.


    [Mhm. I guess I can call it my own method of ''living'',] Evin said wistfully.


    Now that he thought about it, there really wasn''t any other way for him to ''live'' aside from doing this when he was a spirit. All the interesting things were happening to everyone around him and all he could do was be happy he could witness them. He couldn''t even be a proper part of it. The highest honor he could get as a spirit was the title of an emotionally invested bystander.


    ''I should probably treasure this life a lot more, huh'' Evin thought before shaking his head and looking towards his team again. He could think of these topics in the future. For now, he needed to focus on the mission.


    Enri and Runa also seemed to fall in thought, as Evin could feel them eyeing the rest of his team intently. No doubt wondering what kind of life they led to get to this point.


    As time passed in this manner for a bit, Evin finally saw the sign of regrouping from Sannah.

 Chapter 287: Dzukos skill

    Chapter 287: Dzuko''s skill


    Evin quickly dashed over, and asked.


    "You''ve found the entrance already?"


    "We''re not sure exactly. But there''s only one way to find out, right? But are there sign of mages around us?" Sannah asked back.


    "Nothing, as far as I can see. But I''m pretty sure everyone else is looking for the base around the forest," Evin replied.


    "Well, the topic of the secret organization isn''t really anything too rare around town. Dzuko says that he heard at least two families in the nearby area talking about the same topic. We can''t be sure that the enemy teams haven''t found any clues."


    "But we still found the entrance the fastest, right?" Evin asked.


    "Yes, if what we found is the entrance to the base, then we''ve found it the fastest. So let''s stop dilly dallying here and go there," Sannah said and gestures to Dzuko.


    Thetter nodded and led the team towards an abandoned house. Navigating through some dirt ridden furniture, he arrived on top of a metal door lodged onto the floor. Bull opened it using his magic, and the team could see the stairs leading down.


    [It really does look like the entrance to a secret base Guess you found the right spot,] Enri said.


    "Ertu, help me set up the warning devices with me," Sannah said.


    "Do you want to leave any traps, as well?"


    "No. Just something that tells us we would be expectingpany soon. Traps are too noticeable, and they wouldn''t really do anything against elites anyway."


    As the two women finished setting up their device and covering it with more advanced illusions, Dzuko came over to Evin.


    "Cap'' said you''re going to be staying under my shadow. I know a bit of Dark Magic myself, so enemies''ll think I''m the one casting spells around them. Maybe you can pop out during crucial moments and throw some of your lethal attacks."


    The man said as he cast his own Dark Room around himself.


    "Alright," Evin said and tucked himself into Dzuko''s shadow.


    [Can you hear me?] Dzuko''s voice appeared in Evin''s head afterwards.


    [Yeah.]


    [Alright, this''ll help us coordinate a bit better. Also, since you''re going to be my ace in the hole, I need to learn how your killer moves work. Nothing too specific, just its effects and general description,] Dzuko said, [If you''re thinking I''m trying to poach your spells from you, well, you would be right. But I''ll make it up to you by teaching you a few of my own spellster on. We''re both logical mages so I think it would be a nice exchange overall.]


    Since Evin didn''t have to exin every little detail about it, he really didn''t mind cooperating with the man. And besides, he was also a bit curious about how the man''s mapping skill worked. He then started exining how his Heavy and Storm spells worked, while also mentioning Enri''s bite.


    [Weird how most of your lethals are melee attacks and the reason why your Heavy World works as a lethal is because you know its World Switch,] Dzukomented in the end, [That''s really great, since no one really expects to be killed by the Heavy World, so the amount of people who actually prepare counterattacks against it are pretty low. It''s a very nice lethal to possess.]


    Evin could only smile wryly at the judgement.


    "Alright, we''re ready to move now," Sannah said and took lead with Yazuran.


    [If you have any detection methods, then keep those on. Everyone usually searches for traps that match their own Worlds.] Dzuko exined.


    [Alright,] Evin said and booted up his Soul vision, while asking Runa to be on the lookout for Dark Spells.


    [Well, since the stair down could continue on for a long time, I''ll try to uphold my end of the bargain,] Dzuko began his exnation.


    From what Evin heard, he realized that Dzuko acted very simrly to him, as in they both fought in a way that liked to take control of territory. For example, the chances of Evin winning a fight or losing it depended highly on whether he was fighting inside the Dark Room or not.


    Dzuko was the same type. He cast a spell which ced the air particles inside it under his almostplete control. He could thicken the air particles to make it act more like a solid object rather than a gaseous one, he couldpletely deprive an area of its air to the point it almost reached the levels of an absolute, he could even harden the air particles and create a literal shredder of air.


    But sadly, the spell had one huge drawback. Every time he cast the spell, he needed to exin its effects to the enemies. It was also very noticeable, which was very weird for a World of Storms spell, which boasted its invisibility. This was the limitation he needed to put on the thing, as otherwise, it was too overpowered.


    Obviously, if the enemies thought it a joke and let Dzuku do whatever he wanted, then great. An easy fight for his team. But more often than not, the experienced members of the elite teams tended to be the cautious type of people. Although they think of the possibility of a bluff, they always make sure to check its credibility. After all, a lot of other mages had these forced limitations on their spells. So they would throw a few of their anti-Storm methods to deal with Dzuko''s spell ordingly.


    Although Dzuko could still act like it didn''t do anything, before striking suddenly, since he''d already exined its effects to his enemies, they usually tended to be careful around it anyway.


    [But if you pair your Dark Room with his territorial spell, wouldn''t you two have an extremely strongbo? I mean, you could be trying to take control of an area using your Dark Room, while he would be trying to take control using his own spell. I imagine your enemies would have a much tougher time trying to deal with that, instead of just one area spell.]


    ....


    Author''s note:


    If you''ve been reading theter chapters, you might''ve noticed the quality of the chapters dropping significantly. The update stability is also bing a big problem as well. Well, I''m afraid I have some bad news for you alling soon. I don''t wish to speak of it yet, but expect a huge chapter exining my thoughts on the current state of my novel to be dropped after a week or so.


    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and


    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!