After Agnis’ clone explained to Ted what his plan was Ted started to get angry. He cooled down after 10 minutes.


    Really, you could have given me a heads-up... I’m sorry. But we don''t know enough about this town. It might be my curiosity but there might also be something that might be important to know.


    I get where you''re coming from but was this the only way? These cultists don''t seem to let anyone close to those tablets unless you’re a part of them, This weird energy intrigues me and I have the feeling Raishin is doing something related to this or this cult.


    Fine, we will see what we can find here. But don''t do any stupid stuff and die! I won''t! Let''s try and follow the weak trails of that energy.


    I will sit this part out as a clone, I am tasked with helping Greg with cleaning up the shades when night falls, I don''t think I have enough energy to deal with whatever we might encounter so I will wait on the surface. You might be a clone but still, be careful!


    Do you think we need to keep a closer eye on Agnis after he pulled something like this? I have the feeling that one day something might really go wrong and he gets himself killed. I don''t know! But I guess it is also a bit my fault, If I just said yes to nuking this place, we wouldn''t have all this.


    You can''t blame yourself for that! I still will! Even though you guys are strong enough I still must keep you safe.


    I''m sorry that we are a handful. Don’t worry about it, you guys are my best friends and like little brothers to me. Now let''s go hunt down some cultists and information!


    You recovered quickly from that. The faster we complete our objective the sooner Agnis can get out of there. I observed as Ted walked over to an exit. He tried not to show that he was worried but I knew he was. I share similar worries. Not only for Agnis but also for Raishin. He does impulsive things but never did he just disappear like that. I can only hope that he is safe and that this isn''t the start of our group falling apart. I followed Ted.


    We need to go this way! I confirmed that nobody was tailing us and disappeared into one of the exits together with Ted. Any idea what this new energy is?


    I don''t know yet, but I can assure you that we probably won’t like the answer. Suddenly things are starting to escalate. Do you think we will make it out of this alive? I halted.


    I don''t know… Agnis isn''t really showing it but he must be under a lot of stress. Yeah, I’m afraid that if we make it out of here that it might be without him… I wish I could do more! Ted punched the wall.


    I understand how you feel, let’s just do what only we can do. I have the opportunity to play a larger role because Agnis can’t deal with those shades and I will play my role to perfection, find out what only you can do in this situation. I don''t think Raishin did that on purpose but he also has found his role in this timeline. Talking about me?


    Whoa, where did you come from? I found something! Follow me! Raishin dashed through the narrow corridors. There were moments when the path split up but he didn''t hesitate in choosing what path to take and we just followed him. Coincidentally he took all the correct paths that by every turn increased the intensity of this bizarre new energy.


    Here! Half-zombie people! These are half-corrupted people, interesting.


    Hey, where is Agnis? You only notice now? Raishin brought us to an open space and some corrupted humans were sitting on the floor.


    Also, I think there is something buried here. Ted, can you lend me a hand? A paw also works. Over here?


    Yup! Ted started digging and excavated a tablet similar to the two we encountered inside the cultist village. This tablet was the source of this energy trail.


    “Is that what I think it is?” A half-corrupted man approaches us. A zombie! Ted attack! Hey, I''m not your dog! And you can attack yourself! He is not a zombie; these people got their mana corrupted but they didn''t give in to instinct yet. I think I can help them. I cloaked my hands in shadow and placed them on the man’s chest and forehead. I made the corrupted mana focus on those points; I grabbed it and pulled it out of the man.


    “What?! I’m cured! Are you a messenger from god?!” Uh oh. All the people gathered here started crowding around me and started uttering words like “savior” and “messiah” Hey! Aren''t you guys forgetting something?! Everyone looked at Raishin who stood on a rock.


    If you want the mesaja to heal you form a uniform line and pay me 2 silver each! Only then will the mesaja heal you! Ted and I facepalmed. Don''t listen to that idiot he is uhh our jester Gregory will help you free of charge but he isn''t the savior or messiah he is just here to help. The cultists didn''t seem to listen and kept referring to me as the savior and the messiah. Guys! Guys! Back off! Don’t push! Anyone who calls me savior or messiah will get sent to that corner and has to pay 2 silver to Raishin! Suddenly everyone went silent. Perfect!


    Come on guys! Don''t you want to thank your savior and donate? Drop it Raishin.


    But my silver… I eliminated the corruption of all the people here.


    “Thank you very much sav… Thank you very much!” You’re welcome, I guess I know the answer but let me still ask, what are you doing here?


    “We are exiled because we were too weak” Too weak? Too weak for what?


    “Too weak to receive the divine revelation!” Oooh! Is it edible? You know what a revelation is right Raishin?


    So not edible? What revelation are you people waiting for?


    “To guide us to the prison that holds our god Zarrazax!” What is a Zarrasacks?


    “Ooh let me tell you about our lord and savior Zarrazax!” Oh no here they go. We already know, this guy just wasn''t paying any attention. So why would you get exiled for being weak? Is it combat related? The cultists shook their heads.


    “We became impure because we were weak.” Do you mean this mana corruption? This isn''t a strong or weak thing; it can happen to even the strongest person.


    “Don''t lie to us! We know we are weak! Only the strong can handle the continuous glory of the divine root!” Hey Greg… Yeah… what do you mean by the continuous glory of the root?


    “Every day we hold a ritual and bask in the glory of the divine root to attempt to get a revelation!” So translation, you guys chill in the dense mana the root radiates which causes you to get your mana corrupted and call it being weak. I expect nothing less from cultists.


    “You dare call us cultists?” A guy with eyes that seemed to pop out of his skull jumped at Ted with his hands ready for strangulation. Raishin kicked him. You guys are weird. “Zax doesn''t attack our saviors, they might have a point…”


    Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    “What?!” the man named Zax jumped at a young man aged around 18 attempting to strangle him. The young man kicked Zax.


    “You are not from here I assume? Your accent is different.” The young man approached. “I’m Arraz” Gregory Ted The Mighty Raishin! I smacked Raishin.


    But you can call me Raishin So you''re saying you agree with the magic corruption not being related to your cul... Religion?


    “I know what mana corruption is, I don''t understand why everyone thinks it is some punishment from god, I bet gods don''t exist anyways.” I hate to break it to you but they do exist but they aren''t as great as you might think.


    “Great so for all I know we’re worshipping a bitch and her simp!” It seems you had some contact with the outside world, I wouldn''t have expected these combinations of words from people speaking ancient Kaledonian.


    “Yeah, this place sucks, I had plans to escape but then something blew a hole in the mountain, and the day after I got mana corruption, talk about being unlucky.” Oh, ehh yeah talk about unlucky. Hey! Stop talking about boring stuff! What is this thing? It seriously gives off a weird vibe? Is this some kind of ancient weapon? It’s just a tablet Raishin…


    “Oh that, it looks like the deity tablets in the village, there are supposed to be 12 of them but for some reason, we only worship 2, the other 10 are probably scattered somewhere.” Deity tablets?


    “Yeah, the 12 Sarian gods, you don''t know about them?" Never heard of them but I''m not Sarian that I don''t know them. That pun was terrible Ted, please stop… What can you tell me about those gods?


    “Uhh not much sorry, I always slacked off in theology. I just know about Biian and Zarrazax. They were as far as I know lovers and someone got in between that and she paid the price.” Ooh, a lover''s quarrel? Is the goddess available now? Ted smacked Raishin. We heard a similar story like that can you tell us what happened after? Like how the goddess sealed the perpetrator here?


    “Uhh something about the perpetrator seeking aid in the city that used to be here but she got tracked down by Biian, Biian couldn''t win so she used some special item and a big tree that was the guardian tree of the city to twist its nature and create a prison. I think she also took something from the perpetrator to power the prison but I''m a bit foggy on the details.” Hey your god sounds like the bad guy here!


    “That is what I''m thinking too but it seems I''m the only one in this village of weirdos.” Uhh, it is that you’re saying it yourself.


    “Who are you calling a weirdo! It is you who is weird by not believing in the great Zarrazax! ” The other cultists started to chime in with Zax and started making noise.


    “What do you mean! We have never seen that guy! How do we even know he exists?! And even if he does why would he care about some underdeveloped hobos living underground and bathing in mana that could corrupt us any moment?!” Hey? Is it just me or does Arraz have a point? Not so loud! The cultists start to assault Arraz and I decided to separate them with an [Earth wall].


    You guys are cured now! You can go and be un-exiled! Is that even a word?


    I don''t care! These cultists are annoying. The cultists listened and walked away. I pulled Arraz back. Not you!


    “Oh” What else do you know about these tablets?


    “Hmm, only that bringing all 12 together is a bad idea, or was it a good idea? Anyways something happens when they all get together. But these idiots only saw a need for Biian’s and Zarrazax’s tablet so they binned the rest.” You sound like you watch a lot of tv, where did you find one? It’s hard to find one in Boshi town.


    “We mugged it from a lost merchant and hooked it up to the root.” That works?


    “Not really we can only get 2 channels because this stupid village is deep underground!” Arraz seems to be extremely frustrated. A cultist that loves watching tv, I thought I''d seen it all. “Hey, guys can I come with you? You guys seem to be cool.” Absolutely not! We are on a secret mission to restore balance to the world! We can''t have randoms join our dream team!


    “What! I didn''t know you guys were on such a noble mission! Can I at least tag along for a bit then? I swear I will behave!” Hehe as long as you understand! We have another member but I don''t know where he is I bet he is busy vaporizing something! Translation: Our last member Agnis, has infiltrated your village to gather information that could be crucial to restoring balance to the world. Did I do that right Raishin?


    As expected of my sidekick! I’m the leader of the group by the way! Hey! Who is a sidekick! And there is no way you could be our leader! We would be long dead if you were our leader!


    Tss tss, always the jealous sidekick but I will forgive you because I''m a great leader! Raishin and Ted started to fight again. I hope that you know that most of the stuff those guys just said is a load of bullshit.


    “Oh ok, so what''s next?" Can you guys stop fighting?! Raishin go find us the other tablets, I will give you 5 silver if you do! Pff, you think you can bribe me? I took out 5 silver coins.


    Ok! Let’s go! Too easy. We commenced with the search for the training tablets. Hey is bringing these tablets together really a good idea?


    Probably not but I''m interested in the information they contain. I think Agnis suggested that he might be able to read them. Ignorance or possible annihilation by tablets, can’t we choose ignorance?


    Ignorance could kill us too you know? We found 4 more tablets and with them corrupted people which I cured.


    Hey guys can you slow down a bit. I manipulated gravity to be able to keep up with Raishin and Ted but fatigue started to accumulate and I couldn''t keep up. After finding the 8th tablet I cured a man named Xz he thanked us but Raishin asked him why his name was so weird.


    “The males in our community get names that are part or use the letters belonging to the name Zarrazax and the females get names with the letters belonging to Biian.”


    “Unfortunately, that leads to many uncreative names" Arraz added.


    “There are various customs and rituals that are outdated but since I’m not part of the elders I have no say in the matter.”


    “That’s ok dad, I know you tried.” He is your dad?


    “Yup! I thought I lost him a year ago when he got exiled.”


    “You don''t seem to be overly happy to see me, son.”


    “That is because I''m cool!” Raishin, Ted, and I looked at each other. Hug your damn dad you asshole! Raishin kicked Arraz and pushed him at his dad. Couldn’t have done better. Hey, Xz do you know anything specific about this root or the pink broccoli?


    “Pink broccoli?” I explained what we already knew and that we refer to the pink tree as ‘Pink Broccoli’. “Oh, the Soun tree?” Is that what it is called? I prefer the name ‘Pink Broccoli’


    "Hmm, as far as I know, the tree was supposed to be a guardian tree but it got changed to entrap the Azure Mist. The Goddess Biian changed its nature and used an item called a Dimsha to empower it. Or did Biian alter the power of the tree and used the item to change its nature? I can''t remember but it is one of the 2.” Dimsha? Have you heard of something like that Greg? No, I have not, can you tell me more about this Dimsha?


    “I don''t know sorry, I only know that a Dimsha is a powerful artifact, what it does and where it came from is unknown to me.” Thanks! And now go spend time with your son! Raishin kicked Arraz to follow his father.


    Shoo shoo!


    “But!” Kssst! Shoo! Arraz and Xz left and we were left with just the 2 of us. I can''t believe he lost a parent and pretended to be too cool for their reunion! I’m sure I will cry when we finally find our parents! Yeah, that felt so awkward.


    Let''s go find the last 2 tablets! Let’s do that tomorrow. It is getting late and I need to do some cleaning.  Is it time for the shades to say goodbye? Yup.


    Hey, can you guys help me drag these tablets? They are heavy! Just leave them here, we will be back tomorrow.


    Ok! Raishin dropped a tablet and it burst and a vast quantity of energy erupted from it. Raishin!


    Sorry! The tablet started to glow and the characters on it rearranged. Hmm, I don''t know what happened but it seems that this is supposed to happen. Raishin, you can drop all of them.


    With pleasure! Raishin dropped the tablets and I created [Shadow cloaks] Around my buddies to protect them from the bursts of energy.


    I will cover these with a [Shadow blanket], they are a bit too luminous, and we can''t have curious cultists messing with them. After hiding the glowing tablets, we head up to the surface. The darkness of the night had already descended upon Boshi town. I headed toward the location where Agnis and I eliminated the shades the day before and his clone seemed to be waiting patiently.


    I don''t know if you’ve noticed but the shades piled high enough to cover even the rooftops. This is not going to stop, is it?


    I hope it does but wishful thinking won''t get us anywhere, ready for the big cleanup? Let’s go. We got rid of the shades similarly as we did the night before. It seems the clone couldn''t handle the workload and popped out of existence but not before it did its fair share of shade extermination. After finishing up Ted Raishin and I headed homebound.